Pertamina eyes more LNG contracts from Japan

Pertamina eyes more LNG contracts from Japan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State oil and gas company Pertamina said Friday that it would be
more aggressive in selling the country's liquefied natural gas
(LNG) to Japan, which was predicting a rising demand for the
commodity from 2007 to 2010.

"Japan will need an additional 2 to 5 million tons of LNG
during that period. We are striving to secure this demand,"
Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim said Friday.

He was planning to visit Japan in the near future to explore
the opportunities.

Japan is one of Indonesia's traditional LNG buyers.

Baihaki said that Pertamina would offer LNG from various LNG
fields in Indonesia, including from the Tangguh field in Papua,
the Badak LNG plant in Bontang in East Kalimantan and from other
fields.

But he dismissed an earlier report in this paper that
Pertamina would prioritize the Tangguh project to supply the
Japanese LNG market.

He said all LNG fields, which are being operated by different
companies, would receive "equal attention" from Pertamina in
their efforts to take a piece of the Japanese market.

"Our interest is to get the LNG sold," Baihaki said.

Baihaki acknowledged that his company's task was not easy,
because Pertamina would face stiff competition from other
countries, including Russia and South Korea.

However, he expressed optimism that Pertamina would be able to
win part of the action on grounds that Japan had faith in the
company because of years of business transactions.

"The government is behind us. Pertamina is merely a selling
tool for the Indonesian government," Baihaki said.

LNG demand in Japan is projected to rise because prominent
Japanese power plants Tokyo and Chubu Electric Power Co. have
suspended using their nuclear power plants following problems and
a series of cover-up scandals.