Japan firms interested Tangguh's LNG

Japan firms interested Tangguh's LNG

Dow Jones, Jakarta

Japanese companies are interested in buying at least two million metric tons of liquefied natural gas from Indonesia's Tangguh field, the president of state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina Baihaki Hakim said Friday.

Pertamina sent a team to Japan earlier this month to market LNG from Papua province, a move that could make the Tangguh LNG project based there more economically viable to develop.

Baihaki told reporters that Pertamina will send a team again to Japan in two weeks to further discuss the plan.

Targeting Japan's market is part of the marketing being done before the multibillion dollar project comes on stream in 2007.

He didn't name the Japanese companies, which are interested in buying LNG from Tangguh.

The Tangguh LNG project will be developed by a consortium led by BP PLC. (BP), which last year signed a 25-year contract worth US$8.5 billion with China National Offshore Oil Corp. BP will supply 2.5 million tons a year of LNG from Tangguh to Fujian province starting in 2007.

The Tangguh project, when developed, is capable of producing up to 7 million tons of LNG annually, more than its sale commitment so far.

Pertamina, which is acting as marketing agent for the Tangguh LNG, is also marketing the gas from the field to the Philippines, and the U.S. West Coast.