Indonesia May Ship LNG Cargoes From BP’s Tangguh to Japan
March 23, 2011, 4:42 AM EDTBy Bambang Djanuarto and Yoga Rusmana
(Updates with comments from BP in fifth paragraph.)
March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia, the world’s third- largest liquefied natural gas exporter, may divert cargoes from BP Plc’s Tangguh plant in West Papua province to Japan, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Darwin Saleh said.
The cargoes were originally to be shipped to Sempra Energy’s receiving terminal in Baja California, Mexico, he said, without specifying volumes.
“We have a team discussing all possibilities for additional LNG shipments to Japan,” Saleh told reporters in Jakarta today, reiterating that Indonesia may also boost supply from PT Pertamina’s Bontang plant in East Kalimantan province.
Japan, which relies on fuel imports for most of its needs, is seeking to expand supply of alternative energy sources after the biggest earthquake recorded in the country on March 11 forced the shutdown of 11 reactors. The nation consumed 35 percent of the world’s LNG in 2009, more than any other country, according to BP.
BP is “closely monitoring developments of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and we are working closely with governments to offer assistance as needed,” William Lin, president of BP Asia-Pacific Exploration & Production, said by e-mail today.
The $5 billion Tangguh project, which shipped its first LNG cargoes in 2009, has multi-year contracts to supply 2.6 million tons a year to China, 1.15 million tons a year to South Korea and an agreement to supply as much as 3.7 million tons a year to Sempra, London-based BP said on its website.
Bontang can ship as many as 20 cargoes of the cleaner- burning fuel to Japan, Gde Pradnyana, a spokesman at energy regulator BPMigas, said on March 14. That’s equivalent to 1.2 million metric tons in total.
LNG is natural gas chilled to liquid form for transportation by ships to places not connected by pipelines. Qatar and Malaysia are the world’s largest and second-biggest exporters of the fuel, respectively.
--Editors: Ryan Woo.
To contact the reporters on this story: Bambang Djanuarto in Jakarta at bdjanuarto@bloomberg.net; Yoga Rusmana in Jakarta at yrusmana@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Clyde Russell at crussell7@bloomberg.net.
