BP asking for certainty regarding domestic gas demand from Train 3

By Febry Silaban

BP Plc, the leader of the Tangguh LNG consortium, has sent a letter to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, asking for certainty regarding domestic demand for LNG from the third train they plan to build at the Tangguh LNG plant in West Papua, a senior official of the ministry said.

Upstream Director Djoko Siswanto said in the letter, BP said it will provide any amount of LNG the domestic market wants from Tangguh Train 3 and will export the rest. The firm however demands the gas sales and purchasing contracts be signed as soon as possible -- by March 2016 at the latest.

?We?ll send a response to the letter later this month. We are drafting the response letter,? Djoko said.

Train 3 is designed with a capacity of 3.8 mtpa, which will bring the total capacity of Tangguh LNG plant to 11.4 mtpa.

In October of last year, BP Indonesia reported that Tangguh Contractor Parties signed a sales and purchase agreement with state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) (Persero) to supply up to 1.5 million tons of LNG a year for 19 years beginning in early 2015. In addition, BP have also secured commitment from a Japanese customer (Kansai Electric) of 1 mtpa from Train 3.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon