VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia plans to export 16 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year to Singapore starting 2020, an official said.

The LNG will come from Train-3 of Tangguh LNG Refinery based on an auction by BP Berau, Director General of Oil and Gas of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Djoko Siswanto said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"We received approval from the government last Friday. The price is good. If I am not mistaken, it is 12.33 percent of Japan Crude Cocktail (JOC). But I will check it again," he stated after opening a trilateral meeting between Indonesia, Japan, and the United States.

Under the contract, 84 cargoes of LNG will be delivered in five years. In the first stage, four cargoes of LNG will be shipped, and later 16 cargoes of LNG will be shipped every year until 2025, he noted.

The Tangguh Train-3 Refinery project costs an estimated US$8 billion and is projected to be able to produce 700 million standard cubic feet per day.

The Indonesian government is looking into the possibility of cooperation with the US and Japan to develop LNG business to support their respective national energy security.

"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 remarked.

Soetjipto revealed 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.

When it comes to LNG, Indonesia is focusing on developing the existing natural resources, developing infrastructures to ensure LNG supplies, and managing LNG-based economy more properly.