In 1971, Pertamina's production sharing contractor, Mobil Oil Indonesia inc. Discovered the first wells of natural gas reserves in Arun. Arun is the name of a small village in the district located approximately 30 km east of the city of Lhokseumawe. Starting from this discovery, the name of this small village is immortalized as the name of the liquefied natural gas refinery to the international world that is PT. Arun NGL. PT. Arun NGL is a company in the form of Limited Liability Company with 55% shares of Pertamina, 30% Mobil Oil and 15% JILCO (Japan Indonesia LNG Company). Nevertheless all the assets contained in PT. Arun NGL is owned by Pertamina.
In implementing the construction of the LNG refinery, the choice falls on Bachtel inc, given its experience in both the construction of the largest LNG plant and other major projects worldwide. For the liquefaction process of gas, selected water system products and chemical in corporation, considering the system is a system that has been tested. Engineering works and details of the estimated cost of implementation were carried out in January 1974, in San Francisco then in London, and in Jakarta. The busyness of development, has been felt since early January 1974. While the tools and construction materials began to arrive early 1975.
In the framework of project development, Pertamina formed a "Task" which is a combination of Pertamina and Mobil Oil Indonesia. The main objective is to carry out supervision from planning to completion of the project.