Petrokimia Gresik (PKG), a unit of Indonesia's industry ministry, has started up a large ammonia plant in East Java.
Fed by gas from an ARCO operated field in the Bali Sea, the 1,350 metric ton/day plant is Indonesia's 11th and the ninth to use ammonia technology of M.W. Kellogg Co., Houston, since the Indonesian government in 1971 adopted fertilizer production self-sufficiency as a national objective.
Part of the plant's output feeds an adjacent 1,400 metric ton/day PKG urea plant. The rest goes to nearby ammonium sulfate units.
Gresik's new plant is expected to consume 35-40 MMcfd of gas feedstock supplied by ARCO Bali North Inc. from its Pagerungan Besar gas/condensate field off East Java, about 300 miles east of Surabaya, East Java. Pagerungan Besar gas moves to the Gresik area through the newly completed 28 in., 430 km trans-Java pipeline system.
Only about 10% of Pagerungan Besar's gas flow feeds the Gresik ammonia plant. About 300 MMcfd is fueling a 1.5 million kw power plant in the area (OGJ, Jan. 31, p. 29).
ARCO Bali North is an operating unit of ARCO International, both of which are subsidiaries of Atlantic Richfield Co.
PLANT DETAILS
The cost of Indonesia's newest ammonia plant was not disclosed, but because it is located at Gresik, the country's largest fertilizer manufacturing site, Kellogg said costs were kept in check by skilled onsite operators and existing infrastructure. The Gresik petrochemical complex already held a 20,000 ton ammonia storage site, as well as storage capacity for urea.
Limited space at the construction site forced Kellogg to adapt design of the ammonia plant to fit into one of the world's smallest areas for a unit of its capacity. The smaller footprint required less structural material, also lowering costs.
Indonesia for more than 2 decades has emphasized as much domestic content as possible in each new ammonia plant. For the PKG plant, PT Inti Karya Tehnik (IKPT), Jakarta, Indonesia's largest engineering, procurement, and construction company, was the main contractor. That marked the second time an Indonesian firm was prime contractor on a domestic ammonia project.
PT Puspetindo, Gresik, fabricated many pressure vessels, exchangers, and sections of the plant's primary reformer at a shop next to the construction site.
In addition to providing production technology for PKG's Gresik plant, Kellogg provided procurement, construction, and commissioning advisory services on the project.
Toyo Engineering Corp., Chiba, Japan, through its Jakarta office, provided urea processing technology and support services for the urea portion of the complex. Like Kellogg, Toyo adapted its plant design to fit the small area available at the construction site.
World Bank financed the foreign exchange component of the Gresik ammonia plant project and Indonesian banks the domestic content.
GAS AND FERTILIZER
ARCO Bali North holds a 54% interest in Pagerungan Besar gas/condensate development under a production sharing contract with state owned Pertamina.
ARCO in fourth quarter 1993 finished commissioning field facilities on Pagerungan Besar Island, about 300 km east of Surabaya (OGJ, Nov. 1, 1993, p. 29). Pagerungan production began in January 1994 at a rate of about 300 MMcfd. Gas flow of the gas/condensate field is to peak at about 380 MMcfd.
Pagerungan Besar field infrastructure includes a 350 MMcfd gas processing plant with two 175 MMcfd trains, where water and condensate are separated before gas moves by pipeline to the Surabaya-Gresik area.
The $250 million project's condensate handling system includes two 75,000 bbl storage tanks and a 21/2 km subsea pipeline to a single point mooring station big enough to accommodate tankers as large as 125,000 dwt.
Expected productive life of the field is 17 years. ARCO estimates Pagerungan Besar gross reserves at 1.4 tcf.
Indonesia's fertilizer demand has been growing about 7%/year. In the decade before yearend 1993, the volume of gas consumed domestically for fertilizer production jumped to 178 bcf/year from 50 bcf/year.
Faced with the prospect of becoming a net oil importer by 2000, Indonesia early this year introduced a package of incentives intended to revive interest in high risk prospects in remote areas. While gas is said to be a key component of the nation's energy diversification plan, some operators were disappointed by the omission from the package of improved terms for gas projects.
An August 1992 incentive package set the equity split between Pertamina and production sharing contractors at 55-45 for gas produced in frontier areas or in water deeper than 1,500 m.
Copyright 1994 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
