South Korea secures two Bontang LNG shipments
South Korea secures two Bontang LNG shipments
SEOUL (Dow Jones): South Korea has secured two additional
cargoes of liquefied natural gas from Indonesia's Bontang gas
field to substitute volumes lost from a supply disruption at Arun
gas field, an official at Ministry of Commerce, Industry and
Energy said Monday.
One 56,000-metric-ton cargo of LNG is scheduled to load from
Bontang April 7 and arrive in Pyongtaek April 13. Another 56,000-
ton cargo of LNG will load from Bontang April 16 and arrive in
South Korea April 22, the ministry official said.
"We don't need to make any more additional supply arrangements
(for April)," the ministry official said. "We have enough for
April when the two cargoes arrive from Bontang."
South Korea has been in talks with several suppliers to supply
substitute LNG volumes to compensate for the supply halt from the
Arun gas field in Indonesia's Aceh province, which was shut down
two weeks ago due to civil unrest.
The official said the energy ministry hasn't been informed of
when ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia, a unit of U.S.-based Exxon Mobil
Corp., will resume natural gas pumping in Arun. ExxonMobil Oil
Indonesia is the sole natural gas supplier to PT Arun Gas and
liquefies the natural gas before it is shipped to South Korea and
Japan.
The energy ministry said last week that South Korea is also in
talks with Japan's Kansai Electric Power Co., Japan's Osaka Gas
Co. and an Australian supplier to acquire LNG volumes for April.
The energy ministry official said Monday there is no need to
continue the talks as South Korea has met its April LNG needs
after closing the deal for the two additional Bontang liftings.
South Korea currently isn't looking for substitute LNG volumes
in May, the official added. He said the government will carefully
monitor the ongoing supply disruption in Indonesia's Arun gas
field and take necessary actions if needed.
The official also confirmed that a 56,000-ton LNG cargo
arrived Saturday from Bontang gas field that had been originally
allocated for Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp.. State-
run Korea Gas Corp. will return the LNG volume to Taiwan April 13
to conclude the swap deal.
South Korea has reached an agreement with Brunei to move
forward one 56,000-ton cargo to arrive in Pyongtaek April 20.
Kogas is also scheduled to lift 56,000 tons of LNG from
Malaysia's Petronas Gas Bhd., with delivery to Pyongtaek for
April 8 to replace lost Indonesian volume.
Indonesia is South Korea's largest LNG supplier. South Korea
is expected to import a total of 16.32 million tons of LNG in
2001, of which 5.3 million tons will come from Indonesia.