CNOOC shortlists three LNG suppliers

CNOOC shortlists three LNG suppliers

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) said on Monday it had
drawn up a shortlist of three potential gas suppliers for China's
first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

Australia LNG Pty Ltd, BP Gas in Indonesia and Qatar's Ras
Laffan Co were selected to negotiate a gas supply contract for
the LNG terminal, said an official with the Guangdong LNG Joint
Executive Office based in southern Chinese city of Shekou.

"We will soon start negotiations with the three shortlisted
companies and hope to nail down the final candidate(s) around the
middle of this year before we complete the feasibility studies,"
the official told Reuters by telephone.

A CNOOC-led Chinese consortium and BP are slated to build by
2006 a three million ton per year LNG import terminal in Shekou,
Guangdong province at a cost of US$616 million.

The supply contract would last for at least 20 years, he said.

According to the preliminary feasibility studies, growth in
the Chinese gas market may lead to the terminal's expansion to
about eight million tpy by 2008.

CNOOC, the terminal's leading stake holder with 33 percent,
issued in November a tender for the supply contract to companies
from six countries-Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar, Russia
and Yemen. -- Reuters