Jakarta. The Indonesian government is taking steps to protect energy facilities from the impact of a strong El Nino, including the Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in West Papua, which recently came under threat from nearby forest and peatland fires.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said El Nino could affect not only agriculture but also a range of other sectors, including energy.

“We know that El Nino affects not only the agricultural sector but almost all sectors, including energy,” Bahlil said, as quoted by state news agency Antara on Friday.

He said several energy facilities in eastern Indonesia had received attention because of the dry conditions. The Tangguh LNG facility in Teluk Bintuni was among those closely monitored after fires in nearby peatland areas came close to its tank storage facilities.

“Especially at BP, at Tangguh, the peatland fire came close to the tank facilities there, but thankfully everything was brought under control,” Bahlil said.

He added that the government was also preparing for the possibility that El Nino could last longer than expected.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has classified the current El Nino as very strong. During the third 10-day period of August, sea-surface temperatures in the Nino 3.4 region were 2.74 degrees Celsius above normal, while the average anomaly for June-July-August was 2.2 degrees Celsius.

BMKG has forecast that El Nino could persist into early 2027. Relatively dry atmospheric conditions are expected to keep the risk of forest and land fires high.

Smoke was detected on Sept. 10 in several parts of Papua, including Central Papua, Highland Papua and South Papua.

The fire near Tangguh was first detected on Aug. 22, prompting the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to deploy a helicopter for water-bombing operations. By Aug. 28, the helicopter had made 69 water drops, releasing about 69,000 liters of water. The targeted areas no longer showed open flames, although authorities continued monitoring for smoke and possible embers beneath the vegetation.

Tangguh LNG is a strategic upstream oil and gas facility. Following the operation of its third production train, the facility has a production capacity of 11.4 million metric tons of LNG a year, equivalent to about 35% of Indonesia’s total LNG output.

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