Japanese western buyer orders 4 cargoes from Bontang

By Godang Sitompul

An official of state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina said on Tuesday that the firm had managed to find a buyer from Japan for four spot-market cargoes of LNG from the Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan.

Pertamina?s VP of LNG Marketing Didik Sasongko identified the purchaser as ?a western buyer?, but refused to disclose its name.

He said the four cargoes will be delivered in May through August of this year.

He said Japanese eastern buyers were reluctant to buy since the price set by Pertamina for the LNG was considered too high. Korean buyers have declined to buy additional cargoes from Indonesia on the same reason.

?In fact, Korea has a surplus of 45 cargoes. It has diverted them to Japan, China and Taiwan. Taiwan has also rejected offer from us citing the price reason,? he said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon