Taipower expects to announce LNG tender winner next year: Report

After a long delay, state-owned Taiwan Power Co., or Taipower, expects to close a new tender for the contract to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to its planned Tatan power plant in February or March next year, a company official said Monday.

The company has been notified informally by the Ministry of Economic Affairs on the issue and is waiting for the ministry's formal letter to restart the process, the official, at Taipower's public affairs department, told Dow Jones Newswires.

He didn't have a timetable for publishing the new tender document, but said a winner will likely be chosen in March or April next year, after the deadline for submitting bids in February or March.

He said he didn't expect any major changes in the new tender document.

The government abruptly shelved the tender for the NT$400 billion contract (US$1=NT$34.718) late last year, on grounds the rise in Taiwan's electricity demand had slowed due to the slowdown in the general economy.

The subject came under the spotlight last month, when Vice President Annette Lu visited Indonesia and said the contract could be a business opportunity for Indonesia.

Several international companies, including TotalFinaElf S.A., Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BP PLC have expressed an interest in the contract. Indonesia is expecting to supply the LNG from Bontang LNG center in East Kalimantan, where natural gas is mostly supplied from TotalFinaElf?s giant gas fields.

The first unit of the 4,000-megawatt Tatan power plant is expected to come online in the summer of 2005. According to Taipower's previous tender documents for the natural gas supply contract, the power plant will have between six and 12 units.

Meanwhile, Pertamina expressed skepticism about the report.

?Taipower had been re-tendering the project over and over and I don?t know if this is going to be the last,? said Baihaki Hakim, Pertamina?s president director on a sideline of a private ceremony in Bali on Monday.(godang)