Pertamina in talks with Tohoku on LNG

State oil company Pertamina said on Wednesday it was in talks with Japan's Tohoku Electric Power Co Inc to sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the vast Tangguh field in the remote Papua province.

Tohoku currently has a long-term agreement to buy three million tonnes of LNG annually from Indonesia -- the world's biggest LNG exporter.

"There are prospects for Tohoku (to buy) two million tonnes of LNG from Tangguh. They are interested in LNG from Tangguh field but we need to talk further with them," Pertamina President Director Baihaki Hakim told reporters.

"We offer competitive prices to Japanese buyers and we also give them flexibility in LNG contracts," he added.

Tangguh, to be operated by British oil major BP (London:BP.L - News), will come onstream in 2007 when it begins supplying 2.6 million tonnes a year to a planned terminal in China's Fujian province. (*)