Indonesia Looks for Buyers of Excess LNG

Indonesia’s BPMIGAS is looking for buyers of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) next year.

The company said it expects to have an excess supply of of 2.5-3 million tonnes when an existing contract ends in 2011.

An Indonesian contract to export 8.4 million tonnes per year will expire in 2010, while a 3.6 million tonnes per year deal will end in 2011, both with Japanese firms, according to Reuters.

In February 2009, six Japanese firms decided in principle to extend their term contracts for Indonesian LNG from 2011 for ten years.

“We will sign a final agreement with Japanese buyers as soon as possible,” Budi Indianto, BPMIGAS deputy head, told Reuters. “We will cut our exports in 2011 and we will have excess capacity of 2.5 to 3 million tonnes in that year.”

The firms involved are Osaka Gas, Chubu Electric Power, Kansai Electric Power, Kyushu Electric Power, Nippon Steel and Toho Gas.

The firms plan to buy a total 3 million tonnes per year of LNG from 2011 to 2015, and 2 million tonnes per year from 2015 to 2020.

“We will seek LNG buyers for possible short-term contracts until the local LNG receiving terminal operations are ready,” Indianto said.

The LNG will be supplied by the Botong Plant in East Kalimantan.