Indonesia's Arun LNG Plant Turns into Import Terminal

Indonesia's Arun LNG project in Aceh has stopped producing the fuel as it switches to import and regasification terminal, an official from the plant was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The Southeast Asian nation has in recent years witnessed a decline in domestic gas production amid rising demand. This has led to a decline in exports, almost 40 percent since 1999, Reuters said.

The Arun plant, which has been operating since 1977, has a total of six trains but due to shrinking supplies only one of those trains has been operating in recent years, Teuku Khaidir, president director of Perta Arun Gas, told an industry conference in Jakarta, reported Reuters. "Four days ago the Arun LNG production switched off and tomorrow is the last cargo to (South) Korea," Khaidir said Tuesday.

The conversion is estimated to cost more than $80 million. Arun will become Indonesia's first land-based receiving and regas terminal and is expected to take its first LNG shipments from BP's Tangguh project in eastern Indonesia next year, according to the news agency.

Arun will also become the main receiving terminal for Indonesia's first gas imports, expected to begin in 2018.