Pertamina, El Paso sign MOU on LNG supply
Wednesday, January 2 2002 - 04:29 PM WIB
Indonesia's state oil company Pertamina said on Wednesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with US firm El Paso Corp to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to United States.
``We have signed the MOU with El Paso. According to the MOU Pertamina will supply the LNG to El Paso and El Paso will find the market in the U.S.,'' Pertamina upstream director Iin Arifin Takhyan told reporters.
He said there was no amount of LNG specified in the MOU but Arifin said El Paso needs around five million tonnes of LNG annually starting in 2005.
``The MOU will be followed by (an) export agreement within six months. Therefore, further talks are important,''" he said.
El Paso had said last year it had tentatively agreed to begin buying LNG in 2005 to ship to California. Under this plan, LNG would be bought from a Phillips Petroleum Co plant near the northern Australia city of Darwin. (*)