Pertamina may offer S.Korea one extra LNG cargo

Indonesia state oil company Pertamina may offer one extra cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to South Korea, a company official was quoted by Reuters on Friday.

The official of South Korea state gas company Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) has said the firm needs three extra spot cargoes before the end of March.

"Pertamina maybe has spare capacity only for one cargo. Pertamina is also looking seriously at whether it can sell more cargoes to meet KOGAS needs," the official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

KOGAS President Kim Myung-kyu is visiting Indonesia, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this month to try and buy spot and longer-term LNG supplies.

Pertamina is supplying around 5.3 million tonnes to KOGAS annually under long-term contracts.

A Korea Gas contract for 2.3 million tonnes of LNG from Pertamina ends in 2007, one for two million tonnes a year expires in 2014 and another for one million tonnes a year ends in 2017.

"Pertamina will ask KOGAS to extend the contract that will expire in 2007. Pertamina is ready to be flexible over the terms and conditions," the official said.

Indonesia is the biggest LNG exporter in the world with more than 23 million tonnes annually going to Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.(*)