Indonesia to have 9th LNG train at Bontang plant: Report

Indonesia will likely have an additional liquefied natural gas train at its Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan, the world?s largest LNG facility, Brian Marcotte, Unocal Indonesia Co. president, was quoted by Dow Jones newswire as saying in Singapore on Monday.

It will be Bontang?s ninth train which is also known as Train-I, and is designed to raise Bontang plant?s production by 525 million cubic feet of natural gas a day (MMcf/d) from current production capacity of 3,450 MMcf/d. The Indonesian unit of Unocal Corp. has a minority interest in the construction of Bontang?s ninth train.

Engineering, procurement and construction bids from three bidders have been submitted, Marcotte said at the Asia Upstream 2002 conference.

"They are ready to be awarded now," Marcotte later said on the sidelines of the conference. But the tender award is pending sales contracts for additional LNG to justify expanding the production facility, he added.

"Suppliers are ready to commit to the construction once enough sales have been agreed to secure the financing for the expansion," Marcotte said, adding that the investment required is approximately US$700 million.

He said the earliest the tender award could be in April-May, and construction could start relatively soon, with production startup timed for 2005.

The Bontang LNG plant is 56 percent owned by Indonesia's national oil and gas firm Pertamina , and is operated by PT Badak NGL Co.

TotalFinaElf E&P Indonesie, a unit of Total Fina Elf S.A. (TOT), also has a stake in the facility. Total Fina Elf is the operator and a 50 percent stakeholder in the Mahakam production sharing block, which accounts for 63-65 percent of 3.7 billion to 3.8 billion cubic feet a day of gas processed into LNG at Bontang. (*)