BP ready to sell some Tangguh stake to China: Pertamina

Anglo-American energy giant BP is ready to sell some of its stake in the Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Irian Jaya to China National Oil Company provided that the latter is willing to buy the LNG produced there, according to a senior official of state oil and gas company Pertamina.

Pertamina's upstream director Iin Arifin Takhyan was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia daily as saying Wednesday that BP, the largest shareholder of the US$4 billion Tangguh gas project, had taken a new strategy to market the LNG.

"The ownership option is a new strategy pursued by BP so that it will be easier to sell its gas to China," Iin said.

He added that Pertamina's president Baihaki Hakim and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro were currently in China to market LNG from Tangguh.

China, according to Iin, is currently building a number of infrastructures that would allow its power plants to consume natural gas or LNG. Among those being built are the LNG receiving plant and LNG receiving station for imported LNG.

Iin revealed that the Tangguh plant currently met strong competition from LNG producers in Australia and a number of Middle Eastern countries.

"Nevertheless, Pertamina is confident that Indonesian LNG is very competitive because of its short distance to China and our historical relations with China," Iin said. (*)