S. Korea to import more LNG from RI

JAKARTA (JP): South Korea will import more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Indonesia and further promote energy cooperation between the two countries, a visiting South Korean minister said yesterday.

South Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lim Chang- yeul said it was cheaper to transport LNG from Indonesia because it was closer than other LNG producing countries.

After meeting President Soeharto, Lim said there was great potential for more energy cooperation between the two countries.

"We can make joint investments or increase imports from Indonesia," said Lim, who was accompanied at the meeting by Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana and the ministry's director general of oil and gas, Supraptono Suleman.

The Korean minister is here to attend the 17th meeting of the two countries' joint committee for mineral resources and energy cooperation. The meeting, which began yesterday, will end Thursday.

Lim said that demand for energy in Korea would increase sharply. "LNG is one area in which we will increase our imports."

He predicted that South Korea's demand for LNG would jump to 18.2 million tons by the year 2000, up 51 percent from 12.1 million tons this year and up more than 90 percent from 9.56 million tons last year.

According to the state-owned Korea Gas Corp, South Korea's LNG imports are expected to rise to 20.7 million tons in the year 2001, up from 9.5 million tons last year.

The corporation said that, by the year 2000, South Korea would import 5.3 million tons of LNG from Indonesia.

Lim said that both governments had expressed a willingness to boost energy cooperation.

He said that his country was very keen to increase investment in Indonesia, including in labor-intensive industries.

"Indonesia's national car project will become very successful in the near future," he said.

PT Timor Putra Nasional, which is controlled by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutama (Tommy) Mandala Putra, is working with KIA Motors of South Korea to produce national cars, under the Timor brand.

He said that to win on the world market South Korean industries were still trying to minimize costs and improve environmental protection. (bnt)