Pertamina says Arun able to produce 5 cargoes of LNG in September

State oil and gas company Pertamina said Friday Arun Natural Gas Liquefaction (NGL) in troubled province of Aceh might be able to produce one more cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in September, making the total production for the month 5 cargoes.

?We are currently negotiating with Kogas of South Korea to take the third cargo,? he said.

Sidick said that Kogas ahd agreed to lift two cargoes for the month, while another two cargoes had been bought by Japanese buyers.

He corrected earlier statement made by another Pertamina official those Japanese buyers; Tohoku and TEPCO would lift three cargoes of LNG in September.

He said one cargo of LNG had been shipped to Korea on September 5, while another LNG cargo vessel Wakaba Maru is expected to arrive anytime now to lift LNG to Japan.

Sidick went on to say that ExxonMobil would likely resume gas operation in Cluster III and IV in September to enable Arun NGL to run at full capacity to meet Pertamina?s October contractual obligation of nine to ten cargoes.

Indonesian unit of US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, which feeds entirely Arun NGL gas supply, partially resumed its gas operation in Aceh in July after shutting down for more than three months due to security reasons. (godang/alex)