President Megawati to lobby Chinese leaders to buy RI LNG

President Megawati Sukarnoputri will lobby Chinese leaders to buy Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Indonesia during her visit to the country this week, according to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

?The main purpose of the President?s visit is aimed at lobbying the Chinese leaders to buy LNG from us. We hope we will be able to build seven LNG trains in the Tangguh gas in Papua,? he was quoted as saying by Bisnis Indonesia.

After a plenary meeting with the Chinese leaders, President Megawati has been scheduled to attend a ceremony which would mark the establishment of the Indonesia-China forum. The occasion would be used by President Megawati to lobby the Chinese leaders to buy LNG from Indonesia.

The Chinese government has opened a tender to buy about three million tons of LNG for its Guangdong province. Indonesia, Australia and Qatar have been short-listed to join the final bids after passing the pre-qualification process.

The president of the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, Baihaki Hakim said that the final process of the bidding would be carried out between April and May this year. ?The winner of the tender will be announced in June,? he said.

President and her entourage arrived in Beijing over the weekend for a five-day visit. She will also visit several other Asian countries including Japan, South Korea and China.

Purnomo said that during her visit in South Korea, President Megawati would also lobby the Korean leaders to extend the contract to buy LNG from Indonesia. The current contract will end in 2010. (*)