Chinese Company to Visit RI over LNG sales
Friday, September 8 2000 - 07:30 AM WIB
Chinese state oil and gas company China National Offshore Oil company (CNOOC) would visit Indonesia from Sept. 14 to 16 to offer helps to market the Indonesian Liquefied natural Gas (LNG) product in China and explore business opportunities in Indonesian upstream sector, a senior official at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said on Thursday.
"They apparently want to offer helps to sell the LNG from the Tangguh project in China. They are also interested in investing in exploration and exploitation," expert staff for oil and gas affair to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Iin Arifin Tahyan told Petromindo.com on the sideline of the ceremony to sign oil and gas cooperation agreement between the Indonesian and British governments.
The Tangguh LNG project will be developed in Wiriagar area Irian Jaya by a consortium led by Beyond Petroleum (formerly called BP Amoco).
Iin said the company's president would head the delegation.
Director General of oil and Gas Rachmat Sudibyo confirmed the visit on Friday, saying it followed the visit to China by the then Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono several months ago to market the Tangguh project's LNG.
"The main purpose of CNOOC's visit is how to market Indonesian LNG in China," Rahmat said.
Iin said CNOOC is the majority owner of the LNG terminal to be built by the Chinese Government in Guang Dong.
During the visit to China, said Iin, the Chinese government informed Indonesian delegation that Guang Dong needed three million tons of LNG per year, asking Indonesia to participate in the international bidding to supply the LNG to the province.
Quatar, Australia and Malaysia are also interested in selling their LNG to China.
Iin said in the view of the closeness to China, Indonesia would only face serious competition from Malaysia.
Indonesia is theoretically in a better position than Malaysia to win the contract in view of the fact that Indonesia has a good track of record as the world's largest LNG producer.
Furthermore, Iin said Indonesia has several LNG centers that China does not need to worry about continuity of supplies.
Indonesia has currently two LNG centers in Arun, Aceh and in Bontang, east Kalimantan respectively. The Tangguh project will become the country;s third largest LNG center.
Indonesia now exports about 31 million tons of LNG per year. (alex/godang)