Taiwan, Pertamina to sign LNG deal JAKARTA (JP): State-owned oil company Pertamina will sign a new 20-year contract with the Chinese Petroleum Corporation of Taiwan for the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) worth US$6.8 billion, an executive said yesterday. "The contract, which will be the second long-term deal with Taiwan, will be signed at the end of next month," Pertamina's director for general affairs, Baharudin, said after a commemoration ceremony for Indonesia's 50th anniversary.

Sea piracy rampant worldwide KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Piracy is surging sharply worldwide, with Indonesia remaining the hottest bed for sea brigands and Somalia a dangerous hideout for heavily armed pirates, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said yesterday. The number of reported piracy incidents worldwide surged 55 percent to 90 cases in the year to mid-August from 58 in the previous corresponding period, IMB's regional manager John Martin told AFP, after releasing the bureau's piracy update.