PLN appoints ABN Amro LNG project financial advisor

State electricity firm PT. Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) had assigned ABN Amro as financial consultant for the development of Indonesia?s first LNG receiving terminal near Jakarta.

PLN president Eddie Widiono told Petromindo.Com on Tuesday that ABN was assigned to prepare project financing and commercialization study, which is expected to be completed next month.

?PLN has already been offered loan and project financing by various overseas companies, but we?ll have to study which offer will be the best for PLN,? said Eddie.

PLN has announced earlier that U.S. engineering company Kellogg Brown and Root has completed a feasibility study on the terminal project.

The LNG terminal is scheduled to be completed 2007/2008. The terminal will be built in two phases with first stage planned to be able to handle 400 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD) or about 3 million tons of LNG per year, ramping up to 800 MMCFD. Estimated the investment needed to build the first phase receiving terminal is around US$300 million.

PLN considered the construction of LNG receiving terminal urgent as it predicted gas consumption to feed its gas-fired power plants in Java will increase tremendously after 2007. (godang)