Pertamina to develop LNG market in India

Pertamina to develop LNG market in India

JAKARTA (JP): The state oil company Pertamina and Coastal
Corp. of the United States have agreed to develop a market in
India for Indonesia's liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Pertamina spokesman M.A. Rais said over the weekend that
Pertamina president Faisal Abda'oe and Coastal chief executive
officer David Arledge signed a memorandum of understanding last
week.

According to the agreement, Pertamina will supply LNG and
Coastal will build gas-fired power plants and pipelines from
India's gas receiving terminals.

Rais said the Arun gas plant in Aceh and Bontang plant in East
Kalimantan would supply LNG to India.

He said LNG could be supplied from the government's
soon-to-be-developed Natuna plant on Natuna island. The Natuna
island was estimated to contain 45 trillion cubic feet of gas.

He said India -- with the world's second largest population --
was a new market for Indonesia, which has traditionally
concentrated on Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Indonesia is the world's biggest LNG producer, exporting about
25 million tons yearly. About 60 percent of this goes to Japan.

State-owned Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) recently called
for overseas LNG supplies for its $10 billion project to
diversify India's energy system.

The authority, India's main distributor and supplier of gas,
planned to set up two re-gasification plants on the east and west
coast, each handling at least two million tons of gas yearly, its
chairman and managing director C.R. Prasad said.

Gas demand in India is expected to leap to 150 million cubic
metres a day by 2000 and 200 million by 2005, prompting the call
for foreign supplies.

India's gas production is expected to total 88 million cubic
metres daily by 1997.

He said Indonesia was a potential supplier of LNG.

Other countries that could serve India's demand are pressing
ahead with LNG projects, including Oman, Qatar and Australia.
(bnt)