BONTANG'S LNG EXPORTS REACH 295 CARGOES IN 2010

Jakarta, Mar 25 (ANTARA) - The Oil and Gas Upstream Management Agency (BP Migas) this year has exported 295 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) of PT Badak NLG to Japan.

"The exports were smaller than last year's LNG exports of 303 cargoes," head of the LPG and LNG plants division Agoes Sapto Rahardjo said in Jakarta Thursday.

Agoes said the decline of the LNG shipment by 8 cargoes was at the request of the Japanese buyers.

He said the drop required BP Migas to secure a replacement.

But Agoes denied that the drop was due to a decline in production.

"The drop is apparently caused by the fact that Japan is currently in a difficult situation," he said.

He said the government still owed the Japanese buyers 90 cargoes of LNG in the 2006-2009 period.

"If the contract with the Japanese buyers is extended, the debt of 90 cargoes would have been settled," Agoes pointed out.

He believed that the decline in the demand had caused the Badak plant to have an over-capacity which could be meet the gas supplies for the domestic consumption.

Three million tons of gas will be allocated for exports, and 1.5 million tons for domestic consumption of PT Kalimantan Timur reaching 0.16 million tons.

Although 295 cargoes of LNG will be dispatched this year, Agus said the government still has a debt of 90 cargoes to the Japanese buyers.

"The extension of the contract with the buyers is currently still under negotiations," he added.

But Agoes did not elaborate on the extension of the contract.

He said the negotiations may be completed by this end of this month.

In the meantime, under an HoA signed by state oil and gas company Pertamina, Total E&P Indonesie, and Inpex along with six Japanese buyers (Chubu, Kansai, Kyushu, Nippon Steel, Osaka Gas and Tohoku) it has been agreed that the contract on 25 million tons of gas is for a period of 10 years.

The volume will be split into 3 million tons per year in the first five years, and 2 million tons per year in the second five years.

The transportation of the LNG will be 2 million tons of LNG in the form of CIF and 1 million tons of LNG in the form of FOB. The shipment of 2 million tons of LNG per year in the second 5 years will be carried out under the one million ton pattern, in the form of CIF and the other one million tons in FOB.

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