Japan interested in buying LNG from Tangguh

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina President Baihaki Hakim said in Jakarta on Thursday that the Japanese buyers had expressed their keen interest in buying Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the Tangguh LNG plant in Papua to meet the growing LNG demand in the country, Neraca reported on Friday.

Baihaki said that the intention to buy LNG from Tangguh was made during his recent visit to Japan during which a delegation comprising of Pertamina and BP Indonesia officials offered the Japanese buyers to buy LNG from Tangguh when their current contracts ended.

"Japan will study the offer and the possibility of buying LNG from Tangguh when the current contracts end," he said.

Japan is one of Indonesian?s main LNG buyers in addition to South Korea and Taiwan. Japan mostly buys its LNG from Indonesia?s Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan. The Japanese buyers are expected to increase its LNG purchase from Indonesia to meet its growing LNG demand after the existing contracts will end between 2007 and 2010.

Asked about the request of some LNG buyers to adjust their LNG prices to those offered by the Tangguh LNG plant, Baihaki said; "If they want to have the same price, they have to buy from Tangguh, but not from Bontang," he added.

China?s Fujian province has signed a 25-year contract to buy 2.6 million tons of LNG a year from Tangguh, which is developed in cooperation with BP Indonesia. (*)