Japan's Tohuku shifts LNG imports away from Indonesia

Japan's Tohuku shifts LNG imports away from Indonesia

TOKYO (AP): One of Japan's largest electric power companies is
shifting natural gas procurement away from Indonesia after
violence by separatist rebels in Aceh province disrupted
production, a company spokesman said Saturday.

To offset the shortfall, Tohoku Electric Power Co. in recent
days increased natural gas orders from politically secure
Malaysia after Tohoku's main supplier, Indonesia's state owned
oil company Pertamina, cut off shipments, said Yasuki Yamagata.

Rebels earlier this week attacked an oil depot belonging to
Pertamina in the Aceh town of Lhokseumawe, about 1,800 kilometers
northwest of Jakarta. Several drums of oil were blown up but no
one was injured.

The Indonesian subsidiary of Texas-based Exxon Mobil, which
drills for the natural gas and supplies it to Pertamina's Arun
LNG plant, cut production in the province due to the security
problem. Since then, Pertamina has been unable to honor its
supply contracts, said Yamagata.

Tohoku Electric, based in the northern city of Sendai, relies
on natural gas, an environmentally clean fuel, for about 30
percent of its energy needs. Three-fourths of the 4 million tons
of gas the Japanese company uses each year to generate
electricity comes from Indonesia, he said.

"We need fuel, so until we get word that operations are
resuming, we have to look elsewhere," he said.

The Japanese power company was increasing supply from
Malaysia, Indonesia's neighbor to the north, by at least 60,000
tons above the usual 500,000 tons purchased annually. Yamagata
was unable to comment on which Malaysian company was the
supplier.

Rebels from the Free Aceh Movement have been fighting for an
independent homeland since the mid 1970s. There has been an
escalation in violence recently despite a nine-month-old cease-
fire. At least 6,000 people have been killed in the past decade.