Chile approaches Indonesia on LNG deal: Report
Thursday, June 17 2004 - 02:22 AM WIB
While so far "there are only intentions" and no formal talks, Chilean officials have sounded out the possibility of a major deal, Simon Sembiring said.
As "we still have space for production, it depends on how much the Chilean government wants per year," he also said.
During a recent state visit to Indonesia, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos said Indonesia had offered to help fill the gap left by the shortfall in natural gas piped in from Argentina.
Chile's eastern neighbor in late March began rationing gas exports to Chile, leading government authorities and industry to scramble for more costly alternative fuels to generate roughly a third of Chile's electricity.
Lagos has since begun to work on lessening Chile's dependence on Argentine gas.
The plans include construction of a $400-500 million LNG terminal by 2008. Indonesia in December sealed a major deal to export LNG to the Pacific coasts of the U.S. and Mexico, ending Bolivia's hopes of a similar deal.
Separately, Indonesia's mining sector stands to benefit from the Chinese government's efforts at cooling its searing economic growth, Sembiring said.
With coal and tin output in China set to decline and Chinese consumption for both of those products strong, Indonesia's coal and tin stand to gain in export markets, he added.
Sembiring spoke on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group's meeting on mining that Wednesday began discussions on barriers to trade and sustainable development issues in the northern Chilean port of Antofagasta.
It is the first such meeting among APEC mining ministers. Delegates from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.S., and Vietnam are present at the meetings. (*)