Bambang's Osprey eyes Asian gas markets

Bambang's Osprey eyes Asian gas markets

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Osprey Maritime Ltd, which is controlled
by President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo and his
Indonesian associates, is targetting the emerging Asian gas
markets.

"We see enormous growth in Asia for energy. It is a strategic
move for us to position ourselves as an energy transportation
firm," Osprey's chairman and chief executive officer Tim Cottew
said yesterday.

Cottew was commenting on Osprey's acquisition of the Monaco-
based oil and gas carrier Gotaas-Larsen.

"We are focusing on the new markets," Cottew said, citing
South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and India as examples.

Asia Pacific accounts for about 77 percent of global liquefied
natural gas (LNG) demand, estimated at around 75 million tons in
1996, according to Alan Tronner, managing director of Kuala
Lumpur-based AsiaPacific Energy Consulting.

"And most of the incremental demand is fueled by South Korea,"
Tronner said.

Osprey's plan to buy Gotaas-Larsen for US$750 million,
announced on Tuesday, would make it a leading operator of LNG
transportation in Asia where demand is growing fastest.

The acquisition would include a total of nine vessels -- four
LNG vessels, four very large crude carriers (VLCC) and the
remaining half share in an LNG carrier.

Cottew said Japan, Asia's largest gas consumer, has become a
mature market and one where transportation is dominated by the
Japanese. Osprey would not be targetting this market.

Osprey, which saw 47.4 percent of its $85.7 million revenue
generated from outside of Singapore in 1996, would see this
increase in 1997 with its latest acquisition, he said.

Cottew was optimistic about the growth of the LNG chartering
market, which is currently very tight.

He was confident Osprey would be able to commit quickly its
one unemployed LNG carrier "in a fairly short space in time".

This was because Osprey intended to tender for a short-term
South Korean contract to deliver LNG to Korea Gas Corp. The
tender is expected within the next two to three months.

South Korea, which has been importing LNG from Indonesia since
the late 1980s, saw contractual demand surge to over 10 million
tons a year from about two million tons in 1996, Cottew said.

Indonesia's state-owned oil company Pertamina is the world's
LNG exporter with an annual shipment of more than 24 million
tons, mainly to Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

Discussions for new short-term LNG vessel charter rates were
expected to be 50-60 percent above last year, given the tight
supply, he said.