Indonesia, Philippines to resume LNG talks

Indonesia and the Philippines may resume talks on liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply on the sidelines of the upcoming ASEAN Ministerial meeting in Langkawi, Malaysia, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Monday.

?We will probably resume our talks with the Philippines Friday,? Purnomo told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar in Jakarta. Purnomo will meet his Philippines counterpart Vincent Perez at the ASEAN meet, which is scheduled to take place on Friday.

In 2001, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding, underwhich Indonesia's Tangguh LNG plant in Papua would supply the Philippines? GN Power some 1.3 million tons a year of LNG.

Indonesia needs to find buyers for seven million tons of annual LNG output from the Tangguh field, which is operated by BP.

Last September, Indonesia?s state oil and gas company Pertamina and China?s National Offshore Oil Corp signed a deal to supply LNG to Fujian province at 2.6 million tons per year. The LNG will come from Tangguh. (alex)