Pertamina seeking up to 1 milion tons of LPG per year from Middle East

State owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina is in talks with companies in Iran, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Kuwait on supplies of between 500,000 and 1 million tons (MT) per year for Indonesia.

"A deal has been closed with UAE," VP Marketing Hanung Budya said on Tuesday, without providing details.

The supplies are needed to anticipate the increase in demands this year. The supplies from the Middle Eastern countries will add to the one from Bermuda-based LPG trader Petredec Limited secured by Pertamina late last year.

In December last year, Hanung said Pertamina had awarded a contract, after a tender, to Petredec to supply LPG to Indonesia for 10 years starting January this year. The supply starts at 80,000 MT in the first year and will be ramped up to 1 MT - 1.5MT in the second year.

Petredec beat out 15 other tender participants including Saudi Aramco, A1, BP plc and Petronas.

Indonesia?s 2009 LPG consumption is projected to increase to 3 MT - 3.3 MT from 2.2 MT this year as the government is pushing the public to shift from kerosene to LPG for cooking. (Godang)