RI may delay LNG exports to Korea, Japan on tsunamis

RI may delay LNG exports to Korea, Japan on tsunamis

Dow Jones, Jakarta

PT Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company,
said on Monday it may delay shipments of liquefied natural gas to
Japan and South Korea if the loading process is hit by tidal
waves again over the next two days.

"If the tsunami attacks again, we won't be able to load the
LNG; we would have to declare a state of force majeur to our
clients (in Japan and South Korea)," Pertamina Vice President
Mustiko Saleh told reporters.

Rescue crews combed seaside villages in northwestern Indonesia
Monday for survivors from a massive undersea earthquake in the
Indian Ocean Sunday that caused tidal waves that killed at least
4,448 people in Indonesia and left more than a million homeless,
the Health Ministry said.

Mustiko said Indonesia will ask Japan and South Korea to
accept the "force majeur" situation if Pertamina fails to make
the shipment.

He said Pertamina is in the process of loading LNG into two
ships - the Aquarius and Echiqo Maru. Each ship will carry
125,000 metric tons of LNG for South Korea and Japan. Pertamina
had to delay its effort to load the LNG Monday, in the wake of
the earthquake and resulting tsunami.

"If over the next two days we fail to load the LNG, then we
will declare the situation," he reiterated.

He added that if the situation occurs, Pertamina will
reschedule the shipments. He didn't elaborate

Elsewhere, the local subsidiary of U.S. petroleum giant Exxon
Mobil Corp. suffered a temporary "minor disruption" in its
natural gas liquefaction operations Sunday due to the massive
earthquake in the Indian Ocean, off Indonesia's northwest
province of Aceh, the company said on Monday.

"When the earthquake occurred on Sunday morning, there was a
minor disruption of gas processing initially at PT Arun and Exxon
Mobil Oil Indonesia Inc.," an Exxon Mobil Oil Indonesia Inc.
statement said, quoting communications manager Deva Rachman.

"However, production was fully restored on Sunday afternoon
(and) there was no damage to the EMOI-operated facilities."

The statement didn't specify the nature or the cost of lost
production prompted by the earthquake-related operations halt.

PT Arun and EMOI are located outside the city of Lhokseumawe
in Aceh province, which was shattered by a massive earthquake and
tsunami early Sunday morning that has killed more than 4,000 of
its residents and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Despite the horrific toll in human suffering, analysts and
government officials are breathing a sigh of relief that
Indonesia has been spared the economic impact of serious
earthquake-related damage to the liquid natural gas facilities in
the quake-stricken province.

Indonesia, the only Asian member of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries, is the world's largest LNG
exporter and relies heavily on petroleum revenues to support its
sputtering economy, which has seen growth falling behind that of
its regional neighbors in recent years.

The new government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is
counting on expanding foreign investment in the country's oil and
gas sector as a means of jump-starting economic growth.

The statement said that Exxon Mobil's operations in Aceh are
currently operating normally and that the firm will continue to
monitor its facilities in the area.