Hyundai, Marubeni to build Indonesia's LNG terminal

Hyundai, Marubeni to build Indonesia's LNG terminal

Bloomberg, Jakarta

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Marubeni Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. are bidding to build Indonesia's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

State-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) received proposals from 14 groups, Ali Herman Ibrahim, the company's director of generating, said in a phone interview on Friday.

"We're going to shortlist the bidders in May and announce the winners in October," Ibrahim said. The value of the terminal is about US$300 million, he said in August.

PLN wants its LNG import terminal in Cilegon, Banten, to start operating in 2007. The utility has to look beyond Java to find gas for its plants because the island's reserves of the fuel are declining.

PLN is building power plants in Java because of rising demand for electricity on Indonesia's most densely populated island.

The other bidders for the project are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Taisei Corp., Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., France's Tractebel SA, and PT Petrosea, a unit of Clough Ltd.

Sumitomo is partnering Mitsui & Co. and Indonesian company PT Waskita in its bid.

The plant will have an initial capacity of turning LNG into 400 million cubic feet of gas a day, later rising to one billion cubic feet a day.

PLN wants to build LNG tanks with a capacity of 125,000 cubic meters each, a berth for LNG tankers and a regasification plant that returns the imported fuel into gas used in power plants.

The power company has said it plans to buy LNG from Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (Petronas), or PT Badak NGL, which is based in East Kalimantan.

LNG is natural gas that is cooled to a liquid so it can be transported by ship.