Pertamina seeks another 6.1 million mt/year LNG for 2019-2020

Indonesia’s state-owned oil and gas entity Pertamina plans to seek 6.1 million mt/year LNG to meet its annual demand forecast of 12 million mt by 2019-2020, and will prioritize sourcing from domestic supply although imports are still needed, a senior official said late Tuesday, April 28.

“We are likely to get 5.9 million mt out of the 12 million mt, but we are still seeking another 6.1 million mt,” Pertamina’s general manager for LNG trading Arief Basuki said on the sidelines of the Platts Indonesia Energy conference.

Pertamina is eyeing supplies from domestic projects such as Inpex’s Masela and Chevron’s Indonesia Deepwater Development to cover its projected requirement of 6.1 million mt/year.

But if domestic projects cannot cover this demand, Pertamina will look to major companies such as Shell and BG LNG Trading, as they are seen as having good portfolios, according to Basuki.

Meanwhile, the 5.9 million mt/year LNG supply that Pertamina has so far earmarked includes 2.5 million mt/year of secured volumes, Basuki said.

Another 3.4 million mt/year is still under discussions with various potential sellers such as the Bontang LNG plant — that may be able to supply 1.4 million mt/year from 2017 — as well as imports from African countries, Basuki added.

Pertamina has earlier tied up 1.52 million mt/year of LNG from the US-based Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi LNG plant under two 20-year contracts.

The first agreement will see Pertamina lift 760,000 mt/year from 2018 and the second, another 760,000 mt/year from 2019, Platts reported previously.

Pertamina is planning several terminals to meet an expected increase of 4.8%/year in Indonesia’s gas demand over 2015-2025.

The country’s most populated island Java for one, will face a deficit supply in 2018, Platts reported previously.

The company has started modifying the Arun LNG plant into a storage and regasification terminal to meet gas demand from power plants and industries in Aceh and North Sumatra.

The project is designed to have a capacity of 400 Mcf/d, equivalent to 3 million mt/year LNG.

Pertamina and state-owned gas transmission and distribution Perusahaan Gas Negara have also set up a joint venture to operate the 3 million mt/year floating storage and regasification unit in Jakarta Bay, Platts has reported.

Pertamina also plans to build a land-based receiving LNG terminal with a capacity of 500 Mcf/d — equivalent to 4 million mt/year of LNG — that is expected to complete in 2019, as well as two FSRUs in Central Java with capacities of 3 million mt/year and 1.2 million mt/year. – Platts