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The gas business and pricing practices in Indonesia

Proceedings Title : Proc. Indon. Petrol. Assoc., 32nd Ann. Conv., 2008

The Constitutional Court decision handed down a decision that amended certain Articles of the Petroleum Law No. 22 of 2001, particularly as they relate to the competitive pricing of natural gas (Chapter 5 Article 28) and the obligation upon contractors in a production sharing contract to provide a share of production for the purposes of domestic consumption (Article 4 Section 22). The Constitutional Court decision is final and binding however these amendments are yet to be finalized. Pricing is considered one of the most crucial elements to both gas sellers and buyers. For sellers, the price has to secure the returns on the project and it must also be sustained at a satisfactory level over the life of the sale contract. For buyers, the price has to be affordable in order to enable them to sell their product competitively in the market. Interestingly and unlike coal, Indonesia has adopted a mechanism that allows for different pricing of natural gas depending on whether it is sold on the domestic market or the export market. Most, if not all, gas that is exported either in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or piped gas is indexed or linked to certain prices of crude oil or other petroleum products. The gas is sold on the basis of its energetic merits, namely: the comparison of heating values between oil products and natural gas. This mechanism is the long standing foundation that underpins gas exports from Indonesia. On the other hand, gas for the domestic market is sold mostly at a fixed price which is negotiated at the prevailing market rate. With the current crude oil price at USD90/bbl it is hardly surprising that this has resulted in a significant gap between the domestic and export sales prices. Indonesia has plenty of uncommitted gas reserves to be developed. The challenges lie on how to monetize these gas reserves to meet existing and new commitments both in the export and domestic markets.

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