Pertamina?s rivals in the tender to supply LNG to China unfair

State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina said that its rivals taking part in the tender to supply Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to China have conducted unfair practices in efforts to outbid it from the Chinese LNG procurement project, Bisnis Indonesia reported.

Speaking in a hearing with members of the House of Representatives (DPR), Pertamina?s president Baihaki Hakim said that some of the rivals had used Indonesia?s political issues to block the state oil and gas company?s participation in the tender.

Baihaki did not name the companies. But according to earlier reports LNG producers from Malaysia, Qatar and Australia have launched aggressive campaigns to win the heart of the Chinese government in efforts to win the LNG tender.

According to Baihaki, Irian Jaya governor has agreed to brief China about the security situation in the island. ?We have approached Irian Jaya governor and Freeport to explain the security situation in the province,? he added.

He also said that Pertamina would also ask the Indonesian government to carry out government to government (G to G) approach to help Pertamina win the Chinese LNG procurement tender.

Pertamina will supply the LNG to China from the planned Tangguh LNG plant in Irian Jaya, which is now being developed in cooperation with BP.

According to Baihaki, the Tangguh LNG plant will use the Philipps technology to enable it to cut production costs by about 20 percent. The LNG plant will be able to ship about 3 million tons a year to China beginning 2004. The supply could be increased to 7 million tons in the following years.(*)