Pertamina seeks three million tons of LNG in 2016

State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina will seek at least three million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum to meet the LNG requirements of four terminals in 2016.

Pertaminas Director for Gas Affairs Hari Karyuliarto said his company wanted the LNG supplies to come from domestic sources here on Tuesday.

"We will give priority to domestic sources, although we will also keep open the option to import," he said, adding that LNG will be imported as long as its price is lower than that in the domestic market.

He stated that the volume of LNG imports was estimated at two million tons out of the three million tons needed per annum.

Currently, Pertamina is looking at companies in the United States and Africa for the LNG imports.

On December 4, 2013, Pertamina signed a sales purchase agreement/SPA with Cheniere Energy Inc. to import 0.8 million tons of LNG per annum beginning in 2018.

The LNG supplies for a period of 20 years will come from an LNG refinery plant that is owned by Cheniere Energy Inc. based in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the United States.

According to Hari, three of the four LNG terminals are in the three floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) located in the Jakarta waters, Semarang and Cilacap. The other one is the Arun LNG Terminal in Aceh.

When the four LNG terminals start operating, Pertamina will be ready to build a large capacity on land LNG terminals; a capacity of six million tons per annum.

Hari said with the present limited infrastructure facilities, the growth of demand for LNG in the domestic economy reached six percent.

In 2014, domestic gas consumption reached 3,000 million million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) and will increase to 8,000 MMSCFD in the next 10 years.

Source : Antara