Minister, Pertamina to visit China to market Tangguh LNG

Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and president of state oil and gas company Pertamina Baihaki Hakim will make a visit to China from July 3 to 7 to market the Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Irian Jaya.

"This is the government-to-government visit. We'll visit the country with the sole purpose of marketing the Tangguh LNG," Baihaki said on Friday.

The delegation will include Pertamina's director of general affairs Sjahrial Daud, director general of oil and gas Rachmat Sudibyo and the contractors of the Tangguh LNG project.

Indonesia, the world's largest LNG exporter, is now aggressively marketing its LNG in China, which is a new LNG market in the region, with competitors including Australia, Malaysia and Qatar.

The Indonesian government was in the past much criticized for leaving Pertamina alone in doing the marketing efforts, while other countries involved their governments in the marketing efforts.

The new administration of President Abdurrahman Wahid, realizing the importance of China's LNG market and the tight competition faced by Pertamina, has been directly taking part in the marketing efforts. (*)