In a statement BP said, “BP is seeking ships to carry gas from Tangguh to customers including South Korea’s SK Corp and Posco. BP also expects to sign an agreement this month to supply the fuel to Sempra Energy, which is building an import terminal in Mexico.”

“BP, which owns 37.2% of Tangguh and operates the project, may buy an additional six LNG carriers itself to handle some exports from the Indonesian plant and a project being developed in Algeria. The earliest that shipbuilders can deliver new vessels, which each cost about US$175 million, is 2008,” it added.

According to Tangguh LNG Senior Vice President Lukman Mahfoedz, speaking to Bloomberg, “There were lots of expressions of interest in the tender.”

Lukman did not elaborate further but, according to one of the interested parties, PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi, “The successful bidder will lease the tankers to BP and its partners for 20 years.”

According to the Bloomberg report, Indonesia’s largest container line PT Samudera Indonesia is amongst the companies which will be entering a bid.