VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government is looking into the possibility of cooperation with the United States and Japan in developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) business to support their respective energy security, an official said.

"There are many possible kinds of cooperation discussed at the forum of three countries this time, including the development of technology and the export and import of LNG," Chief of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKK Migas) Dwi Soetjipto stated during the opening of trilateral meeting between Indonesia, the United States, and Japan on Tuesday.

Soetjipto further noted that the market for Indonesia`s LNG is still widely open and that investors will have a lot of business opportunities if they invest in Indonesia.

Director General of Oil and Gas of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Djoko Siswanto stated at the Indonesia-US-Japan LNG workshop that Indonesia has natural gas reserves of 135.55 trillion standard cubic feet (TSCF).

"Indonesia still has the potential, and so we need to cooperate with other parties to manage the potential and invite investors," Siswanto remarked.

Of the total gas reserves, 99.06 TSCF are proven reserves, 21.26 TSCF are potential reserves, and 18.23 TSCF are probable reserves, he said.

Meanwhile, representative of the US Embassy in Indonesia Heather Variava explained at the workshop that the US has huge LNG reserves and is capable of developing LNG production technology.

"We have experiences in processing LNG and developing technology that I think is quite reliable. In the future, such thing may become mutually beneficial cooperation with Indonesia," he added.

Representative of the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia, Keiichi Ono, revealed that Japan is a longstanding buyer of Indonesia`s LNG.

He noted that both Japan and Indonesia need to step up cooperation in LNG trade in view of declining global LNG supplies.

Looking ahead, the three countries hope to realize the LNG business cooperation more intensively by integrating their capability in fulfilling energy needs. (ant)