Japan Tohoku, Pertamina to finalize Arun LNG shipment

Japan Tohoku, Pertamina to finalize Arun LNG shipment

TOKYO (Dow Jones): Japan's Tohoku Electric Power Co. said Friday that it will soon finalize with Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina an offloading schedule for liquefied natural gas cargoes from Indonesia's Arun terminal.

"We have received an offer from Pertamina regarding the timing of (LNG) shipments from September on," a spokesman for Tohoku Electric said. He said both parties will discuss the matter next week or later.

In its latest offer, Pertamina didn't indicate the volume of LNG it can sell to Tohoku Electric in September, the spokesman said.

After a 4-month shutdown of natural gas fields at the site due to security concerns in Aceh province, Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Indonesian unit, ExxonMobil Indonesia Inc., which is the sole natural gas operator at the site, resumed pumping natural gas mid-July.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, is to take what will be the first LNG export from Arun since mid-March. A Tepco spokesman said Friday that the company will lift a 55,000-metric-ton cargo Saturday as scheduled.

Tepco imports 510,000 tons a year of Arun LNG on a free-on- board basis under a long-term contract with Pertamina.

Tohoku Electric, which buys a much larger volume of 3 million tons/year of Arun LNG from Pertamina, has already secured alternative LNG cargoes from other supply sources to cover its requirements to the end of September.

The Tohoku Electric spokesman said the company will arrange its LNG import schedule so that it won't have to take excess volume in September.