Indonesia rejects formation of gas producers' cartel

Indonesia has rejected the idea of forming a cartel of world gas producing countries, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday.

There has not been any suggestion of forming such a cartel, despite a recent meeting of gas producing countries in the Osaka Energy Forum in Japan, he said.

Speaking at a press conference here, he said that in the Indonesian perspective the cartel of gas producing countries will not significantly benefit any of those concerned.

The Minister made the statement after signing a sales purchase agreement involving a planned sale of 2.6 million tons of LNG to China annually.

Minister Yusgiantoro instead pointed to the Osaka Energy Forum, which served as a place for sharing experiences and communication among the gas producing countries.

The Osaka Communication forum is better than a cartel, especially in facing the Liquified Natural Gas [LNG] market which tended to have been overly determined by the buyers, the minister said.

Speaking of Indonesian LNG exports, he said Indonesia's LNG export to China was expected to increase by up to 7.1 million tons by the year 2005 from the current total of 2.6 million tons.(*)