Pertamina to build $1.9 billion DME production plant

State owned oil and gas producer PT Pertamina is in the process of establishing a joint venture with PT Arrty Mega Energie to develop a dimethyl ether (DME) production plant to supply household domestic gas needs for cooking. “We expect that the plant will begin production in 2012 at the latest, because the demand for LPG will increase significantly by that time,” Achmad said in the company’s DME market trial launching in Jakarta. DME is a gas which can be derived from coal by first producing ethanol. As a household fuel DME can be used 100 percent stand-alone or can be blended with natural gas in LPG. For a market trial, Pertamina will fill gas canisters with a mix of 20 percent DME and 80 percent LPG from natural gas and then distribute the LPG canisters to 300 households and 150 home industries in North Jakarta. Christoforus Richard, president director of PT Arrtu Mega Energie, one of Pertamina’s potential partners for the project, said that of the total investment needed to develop the plant Pertamina would have a 20 percent participating interest in the project, while the remaining 80 percent will be mobilized by PT Arrtu Mega Energie and other possible partners. (June 25, 2009)