Humpuss wants to export LNG

Humpuss wants to export LNG

JAKARTA (JP): The chairman of Humpuss Group Indonesia Hutomo (Tommy) Mandala Putera, the youngest son of President Soeharto, has shown interest in exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced in the Natuna waters of Riau.

"We are ready to export LNG, which will be produced in Natuna, because we have adequate experience in shipping the state-owned oil company Pertamina's LNG from Bontang of East Kalimantan to Taiwan's Jung-An seaport," Hutomo said during a breaking of the fast gathering on Friday evening.

"If the government approves our proposal on the LNG shipment, we will provide, at least, one tanker of LNG," he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

The widely-diversified Humpuss Group, which has a special division for LNG shipments, now operates the 135,000 dead-weight- ton (DWT) Ekaputra tanker, billed to be the biggest in the world, and the 129,000-DWT Dwiputra tanker.

Located about 1,110 kilometers north of here, the Natuna waters have huge reserves of natural gas which will be liquefied by Pertamina and its contractor Esso Natuna Inc., an affiliate of Exxon of the United States. The two firms plan to start constructing two LNG plants with a combined processing capacity of 5.2 million tons per annum in 1997, which are expected to start production by 2004.

Natuna's gas reserves are estimated to be capable of supporting the operation of six LNG plants with a total production capacity of up to 35 million tons per annum for 20 years.

Indonesia exports 18.69 million tons of LNG to Japan, 5.42 million tons to South Korea and 2.36 million tons to Taiwan every year. (fhp)