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Plans for appointment of 150 MW Ciremai geothermal working areas to Pertamina

Plans for appointment of 150 MW Ciremai geothermal working areas to Pertamina Kawah Putih, Patuha Volcano, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia (source: flickr/ Marzuki Kamal, ceative commons)
Alexander Richter 12 Jan 2017

Following struggles with local opposition to foreign ownership, the Indonesian government is planning the appointment of the 110-150 MW Ciremai geothermal working area to Pertamina Geothermal Energy.

Reported locally, ideas about an auction for the geothermal working area at The Ciremai mountain in West Java in November 2016 have been scrapped. Chevron was the previous operator of the Ciremai Block, but there has been strong local opposition and after years of struggle, Chevron returned the working area to the Indonesian government.

With general opposition of locals for any foreign or private ownership, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry in Indonesia will now appoint PT Pertamina to become the operator of the area. “They [local residents] at the vicinity of Ciremai Block suggested it be operated by Pertamina,” Energy Ministry Geothermal director Yunus Saefulhak told local papers this week.

An auction was initially planned to be held in mid-November 2016, but now the Ministry plans to develop the Ciremai geothermal working area through Pertamina Geothermal Energy. The potential development size is between 110 and 150 MW with the working area covering an area of 38,560 hectares.

Any appointment of Pertamina is though not likely in the near future, as there still needs to be government regulation on indirect geothermal utilisation and this is now in discussion on government level. The Ciremai geothermal working area would add to a total of 6 geothermal working areas held/ developed by Pertamina. Pertamina said that it has submitted operatorship proposal. Pertamina would let its subsidiary PT Pertamina Geothermal Energi (PGE) to become the operator.

Source: Tempo