Reuters, citing an anonymous BP Migas official, said, “I can confirm that Indonesia is in talk with KOGAS and Tohoku to delay about six LNG cargoes supply. This is because Indonesia has to supply gas to domestic fertiliser firms.”
“The talks are about the delay of three cargoes for KOGAS and two cargoes for Tohoku and another cargo also to a Japanese buyer, but I don’t know what firm that is.
“The discussion is not final yet. There is no problem at the Arun LNG plant,” added the official.
Tohoku Electric buys 3 million tonnes of LNG per year while KOGAS currently imports 5.3 million tonnes of LNG per annum. The insider did confirm Indonesia is keen to extend its LNG contracts with KOGAS for 2.3 million tonnes; however, the gas will not come from Arun.
According to the informant, “The extension contract will not come from Arun (in Aceh), because there will not be much gas for LNG plants.”
“Arun may only operate two LNG plants some time in 2007 from the current four plants. This is because there is not much gas to supply four plants,” added the official without elaborating further.
