SKK Migas: 32 LNG cargoes still uncommitted

By Febry Silaban

Courtesy of SKK Migas

Upstream authority SKK Migas said that 32 LNG cargoes are still uncommitted, of which 28 are from the Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan, and another 4 from the Tangguh LNG plant in West Papua.

Head of Public Relations at SKK Migas Taslim Yunus said on Thursday that the regulator was hoping for domestic industries to be able to absorb the uncommitted cargoes. ?Actually, there are already (potential) buyers (for the uncommitted cargoes), but we?re still putting it in stand-by (status) for domestic need,? Taslim said.

?But if the domestic market can?t absorb (the uncommitted LNG cargoes), then we?ll report to the minister of energy and mineral resources to get export permit. There are currently 17 cargoes being processed to get export permit, some of which requested by BP for their downstream need. It?s still at the stage of proposed for export,? he explained.

Elsewhere, Taslim said the country?s LNG production this year is targeted to reach 278 cargoes, up from 270 cargoes last year, which were entirely destined for export. ?Last year, production was 270 cargoes. This year there will be additional output from Jangkrik field,? he said.

Taslim said that of the 278 cargoes, 202 cargoes have already been committed to buyers including 152 cargoes under long term export contract, and the remaining for domestic market.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak