Pertamina and CPC sign US$6 billion LNG deal
Pertamina and CPC sign US$6 billion LNG deal
NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): State-owned oil company Pertamina signed
a new contract yesterday with Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC)
of Taiwan worth US$6 billion for 1.84 million tons of liquefied
natural gas (LNG) per year for 20 years.
"This is the second contract with Taiwan. The shipments will
start in 1998," Pertamina's president, Faisal Abda'oe, told
reporters after the signing ceremony.
The contract was signed by Abda'oe and CPC's chairman of the
board Chang Tzu-Yuan.
The first contract signed with Taiwan in the late 1980s calls
for the shipment of 1.5 million tons of LNG from 1990 to 2010.
Abda'oe said that the LNG for the new contract will be shipped
from Train-H, the eighth production train at Pertamina's Bontang
LNG plant in East Kalimantan, which will start construction in
1999.
"The supply to Taiwan also will be supported by new gas
reserves discovered by Total Indonesie, Vico Indonesia and Unocal
Indonesia," he said.
Besides supplying Taiwan, he added, Train-H will also supply
LNG to Japan and South Korea.
On Aug. 3 this year, Pertamina signed two extension contracts
with Japanese buyers worth a total of $20.3 billion with annual
deliveries of 8.4 million tons and 3.6 million tons for 20 years.
On Aug. 12, Pertamina also signed a third contract with Korean
Gas Corporation of South Korea worth $3.34 billion for one
million tons of LNG for 20 years starting in 1998.
Abda'oe said that the deal with Taiwan will increase
Pertamina's exports to Taiwan from 10 million tons up to this
month to over 33 million tons by 2000.
"This contract will bring the Bontang plant to a total
capacity of 21 million tons per year, to become the biggest LNG
plant in the world," he said.
Pertamina currently operates six LNG trains in Bontang and
another six trains in Arun Aceh with a combined production
capacity of 26 million tons per year, all exported to Japan,
South Korea and Taiwan.
Pertamina is now developing Bontang's seventh train which is
scheduled to come on stream in 1997 with a capacity of 2.5
million tons per year.
In a related event, Pertamina's Director of General Affairs
Baharuddin said that Pertamina and Total Indonesie are now
developing a new gas field in Bontang, East Kalimantan.
"Total Indonesie is now the biggest gas contractor, followed
by Vico and Unocal," he said.
He said that the new field is now waiting for certification by
Douglas MacNaughton, a gas research institute of the United
States.
Total currently manages three gas fields in Bontang --
Pechiko, Tunu and Tambora.
Lasmo Oil is now developing two wells in the Tunu gas field in
Bontang. (04)