Regional: Statoil, Petronas sign LNG supply agreement
Monday, June 11 2012 - 01:56 AM WIB
Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil signed last week an agreement with Malaysian oil and gas firm Petronas to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the latter at its LNG import terminal in Malaka.
The company said in a press statement over the weekend that the agreement was reached after Statoil decided to open an LNG trading function at its office in Singapore on June 1.
"We have had a very good cooperation with Petronas for many years. We?re very excited to land our first Asian LNG supply agreement with them," said Eldar S?tre, executive vice president for manufacturing, marketing and renewable energy at Statoil.
The agreement was signed during a ceremony at the World Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on June 5 by Eldar S?tre and M Sabarudin M Amin, CEO of Petronas LNG.
Malaysia has been traditionally a major exporter of LNG with long term sale contracts to Japan, South-Korea and Taiwan. However, increasing domestic demand has led to the construction of Malaysia's first LNG import terminal in Malaka. Statoil will deliver the first cargo under the agreement in August this year, shortly after the terminal starting operation.
"There is an increased demand for LNG in Asia and we want to position Statoil to take part in that growth," says Rune Bj?rnson, senior vice president for natural gas with Statoil.
About 1 billion cubic meters gas will be delivered under the flexible supply agreement that runs for three and half years. This is a gas volume equivalent to the consumption of two 400MW gas power plants for nearly one year.
Editing by Benget Besalicto Tnb.