Asia/Pacific News
Indonesia LNG Demand to Double by 2020, Eyes Imports to Supply
Indonesia's state oil and gas company Pertamina predicts that domestic demand for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) will more than double by 2020 and is seeking new import deals after the recent delay of a major gas project, Reuters reports.
"The [demand] number is getting bigger and bigger…today we are targeting more than 5 million tonnes of LNG by 2020," said Arief Basuki, Pertamina's General Manager for LNG trading.
But delays recently announced to a key Chevron deepwater development project in the Makassar Strait mean domestic supply will remain tight and Pertamina is looking to increased imports to meet demand.
Pertamina had expected to begin receiving LNG from the Chevron project as early as 2016, but with possible delays of "two or three years" would likely need to replace this supply with increased LNG imports, said Basuki.
"Maybe we'll need to import (an additional) 1.5 million tonnes a year. We have already started discussions with some suppliers on the possibility," he said.
Former OPEC member Indonesia is the world's fourth biggest LNG exporter, but domestic oil and gas output are declining and attention is shifting to the need for imports and the necessary infrastructure improvements to support them, says the report.
Pipeline projects such as Sumatra's Arun-Belawan and the West Java pipeline will need to be completed in order to facilitate increased imports, said Basuki.
DNV GL has announced it is setting up a new South East Asia LNG unit based in Singapore as it eyes significant growth for the fuel in the region.
