Interim Indonesian energy minister straps in

JAKARTA, August 18, 2016 – Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s interim minister of energy and mineral resources, vowed on Thursday to continue on the course laid out by his predecessor, Archandra Tahar.

Having served for less than three weeks, Tahar was removed earlier this week because of dual US-Indonesian citizenship. Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, Pandjaitan complimented Tahar on the cost-cutting measures he was able to implement. “He also asked [for] more transparency in structural costs,” Pandjaitan said.

The interim energy minister also said he would stay on the country’s priority projects, chief among them the planned increase in power generation capacity to 35 GW and the onshore Masela Abadi LNG facility to process Masela gas. During his time in office, Tahar had begun working on ways to reduce the cost the latter project, bringing it down to around USD 15 billion.

The LNG plant, which has a design capacity of 7.5 million tonnes per year, will be owned by Inpex (65%) and Shell (35%). National oil company Pertamina has signalled interest to farm in on a 10% stake. First production is slated for 2024.

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