China not interested in buying LNG from Indonesia

The Chinese government does not plan to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Indonesia because it has found a large gas reserves in the country.

Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao said China had found a large gas reserves in the western part of the country.

"Currently, we are under intensive negotiations to exploit the gas," Hu said responding to a question from Sofyan Wanandi, chairman of the National Business Development Council in a dialogue with Indonesian businessmen.

President Abdurrahman Wahid said recently that the government wanted to sell its LNG from Tangguh LGN plant in Irian Jaya to China. Minister of Mines and Energy and executives of BP Amoco, the main shareholder of the Tangguh LNG project, then visited China in a bid to market Tangguh LNG. (*)