Page 8 - AsianOil Week 27

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PGN plans petchem play

PROJECTS & INDONESIA’S state-owned natural gas utility 8 that it was a priority even though it was still in
COMPANIES Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) has announced the early stages of development. She said the plan
plans to enter the petrochemical segment in would help to reduce LPG and fuel imports.
order to diversify its business model. The secretary-general of the Indonesian Ole-
PGN president director Suko Hartono told fin, Aromatic and Plastic Industry Association
the Indonesian House of Representatives on July (Inaplas), Fajar Budiono, told the paper that he
6 that his company expected to complete a fea- expected construction to take at least three and
sibility study with state refiner Kilang Pertamina a half years. If the feasibility study is wrapped up
Indonesia (KPI) between 2022 and 2023. this year, Budiono said, the facility could be up
He said PGN wanted to produce methanol and running by 2025.
and dimethyl ether (DME), with the former to be It is unclear why PGN is seeking to enter the pet-
used in biodiesel production, while DME could rochemical sector, given that the company has no
be used as an alternative cooking fuel to liquefied experience in the downstream and other Pertam-
petroleum gas (LPG). Hartono said the company’s ina units are already operating in this space.
petrochemical investment would only extend to Adding to the confusion is the fact that the
between 5% and 15% of its portfolio, “because this government is trying to group Pertamina’s sub-
is not our main business”. He expects feedstock gas sidiaries into sector-specific sub-holding compa-
to come from upstream projects in East Java, South nies that will then launch initial public offerings
Sumatra and Kalimantan. (IPOs). State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick
PGN and KPI partner company Pertamina Thohir said in June that while the government
has thrown its support behind the plan, with wanted to create a single upstream unit as well as
vice-president of corporate communication a marketing company, PGN already served this
Fajriyah Usman telling The Jakarta Post on July purpose for natural gas units.™

Southeast Asian majors

consider green future

FINANCE & TWO of Southeast Asia’s state-owned oil and gas
INVESTMENT majors have unveiled plans to begin investing in
renewable energy as they begin to prepare for a
fossil-free future.
PetroVietnam told Reuters on July 8 that it
intended to invest in renewable energy projects
as it prepares for the country’s hydrocarbon
reserves to run dry. 2030 from about 54 GW at present, with renew-
The company wants to develop 100 MW of able energy’s share set to rise from 10% to 20% by
renewable capacity by 2025 and 900 MW by the end of the decade.
2035, with the first step to be the construction of PetroVietnan’s burgeoning interest in the
floating solar panels at some of its hydropower renewable energy space is shared by Malaysia’s
plants (HPPs) and the installation of rooftop state-owned Petronas, which revealed earlier
solar at its coal-fired thermal power plants this month that subsidiary Petronas Ventures
(TPPs). PetroVietnam added that it would then had agreed to invest in the solar photovoltaic
seek investors to help it develop solar facilities, (PV) system start-up SOLS Energy. SOLS sup-
wind farms and waste-to-power plants. plies sustainable energy to residential and small-
“Fossil fuels are shrinking, and therefore to-medium enterprise (SME) consumers in
developing renewable energy is inevitable,” the Malaysia. Petronas said on July 3 that it expected
newswire quoted the company as saying in an to complete the transaction before the end of the
emailed statement. month.
Vietnam’s oil production shrank 13.9% year SOLS CEO Raj Ridvan said: “We believe solar
on year in the January-June period to 4.96mn PV system adoption is at an inflection point in
tonnes (199,760 barrels per day), according to Malaysia, and with the government’s regulation
the General Statistics Office (GSO). on Net Energy Metering and lower equipment
The country aims to more than double its cost, we see a huge potential market size in
power generation capacity to 125-130 GW by Malaysia and Southeast Asia.”™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 27 09•July•2020