JAKARTA ~ State electricity company PLN signed a contract worth US$1.36 billion this week to buy gas from a local oil and gas exploration company, a minister said.

Between 2010 and 2028, Perusahaan Listrik Negara will purchase from Energi Mega Persada unit Kangean Energi Indonesia Ltd 360 trillion British thermal units (Btu) of gas for its Gresik power plant in East Java, Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said.

Kangean Energi has also sealed a deal worth $806 million to supply 220.9 trillion Btu of gas to Pertagas, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, between 2010 and 2020.

The deals were among 12 gas purchase contracts together worth $6.79 billion signed on Tuesday by gas producers and domestic buyers in the sidelines of an international oil and gas conference, Yusgiantoro said.

The producers include JOB Pertamina, Petrochina Jabung, Husky Energy, ConocoPhilips and Medco Malaka.

At the same conference, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, via a video link, inaugurated commercial production at two oil and gas fields owned by Australia’s Santos Ltd and US company Amerada Hess.