Pertamina to sell natural gas to Malaysia
Wednesday, January 17 2001 - 04:00 AM WIB
State oil and gas company Pertamina will sell natural gas to Malaysia at a price lower than to that offered to Singapore.
This is because Malaysia is closer to the West Natuna natural gas field, according to Pertamina's director for the management of production-sharing contracts, Iin Arifin Takhyan.
Iin refused to state the price that gas would be sold to Malaysia.
"Negotiation is underway and is expected to be completed by April or at the end of this year at the latest. But surely, (the price) will be lower than that sold to SembCorp of Singapore," he told Antara news agency on Tuesday.
Pertamina, through production-sharing contractors grouped in the West Natuna Gas Consortium, has agreed to export natural gas worth US$7 billion from the West Natuna field to Singapore's SembCorp Gas through 656-kilometer pipeline for 22 years.
The selling price of the natural gas for Singapore will be adjusted according to the price of international crude oil, ranging from US$3.50 to $3.60 per million British thermal units of natural gas.
Singapore is studying the possibility of a second project to import natural gas from Sumatra island.
Iin said the plan to sell natural gas to Malaysia was also part of Indonesia's commitment to build a gas network among ASEAN countries.
Mines and energy minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro will visit Malaysia on Wednesday to support the current negotiation on planned gas sales.
At present, Malaysia gets its natural gas from Vietnam and Thailand. (*)