Natuna LNG to come on stream in 2004

JAKARTA (JP): The first two production trains of the Natuna liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the South China Sea are expected to come on stream at the end of 2004, Pertamina's president Faisal Abda'oe said yesterday.

"It will be expanded to six trains with a total capacity of 15 million tons of LNG per annum," Abda'oe told an international business meeting in Singapore.

To support that level of production in Natuna, both offshore and onshore facilities have to be constructed, he said in his speech, a copy was made available to the Jakarta Post yesterday.

He said that the offshore facilities would include six treating platforms, six drilling platforms, two quarters platforms and four injection platforms.

He said the project will cost about US$20 billion, consisting of $13 billion for offshore facilities and drilling and $7 billion for pipelines.

He said that the Natuna project will be developed in stages and that all six trains are planned to operate for 30 years.

Pertamina, the state oil and gas company, currently operates 12 LNG production trains, consisting of six trains in Bontang, East Kalimantan, and a further six trains in Arun, Aceh, with a total capacity of about 28 million tons per annum.

Abda'oe said the Natuna project is expected to help narrow the gap between LNG supply and demand in the Asia-Pacific region.

He said the gap between the region's supply and demand is likely to reach 35 million tons in the year 2000 and 70 million tons in 2010.

He said LNG demand in the region will grow from about 75 million tons in 2000 to about 140 million tons in 2010.

Abda'oe said he expected Japan would remain the biggest LNG buyer in the world. In 1994, Japan imported some 42 million tons of LNG, 44 percent of which was supplied by Indonesia.

He added that Japanese LNG demand is expected to grow from about 54 million tons in 2000 to 70 million tons in 2010.

LNG demand in South Korea, the second-biggest LNG importer in the region, will grow from 13 million tons in 2000 to 21 million tons in 2010, he said, while Taiwanese demand will grow from seven million tons to 12 million tons.

China, Thailand and India are likely to become new LNG markets in Asia, with projected total demand of about 17 million tons by 2005, he added. (04)