Bontang's LNG shortfall reaches 79 cargoes this year

The Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan, the country?s largest LNG plant, will lack a total of 79 cargoes to fully meet its commitment of delivering 322 cargoes to buyers this year and state oil and gas company Pertamina?s efforts to find substitutes has thus far brought no fruits.

?Bontang?s shortfall is estimated at 79 cargoes this year, and the shortfall is predicted to increase from 2007 through 2010,? Pertamina?s president Ari W. Sumarno told reporters on Thursday.

He said Pertamina, which was assigned by the government to market Indonesian LNG, had informed buyers in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan about the situation.

Indonesia used to dominate the regional LNG market with two LNG plants, located respectively in Arun, Aceh and Bontang. While gas reserves at fields that supply the Arun plant has much depleted, the East Kalimantan gas fields that supply the Bontang plant still contain a lot of gas, but the contractors are reluctant to further develop the fields due to uncertainties over future market.

The Arun plant gets gas supplies from fields owned by American energy firm ExxonMobil, while the Bontang plant is supplied by several gas producers, including French firm Total E&P Indonesie.

Ari said Pertamina has traveled to many countries, including giant LNG producer Qatar, to find substitute for shortage of supply from Bontang. However, Qatar is only able to supply four cargoes to Bontang?s buyers, he said.

He said Pertamina had been hopeless in fulfilling its job of marketing Indonesian LNG.

?We are hopeless. For next year on, we let BP Migas and gas producers to handle the marketing,? Ari said, referring to upstream oil and gas regulatory body BP Migas, which gave it the marketing job. (Godang)