TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: PT Pertamina (Persero) has failed to acquire liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Oman. The LNG is planned to cover the lack of supplies to buyers in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. According to Pertamina's Managing Director Ari Soemarno, his party has not yet succeeded in negotiating with Oman so as to secure the LNG. Oman has not decided to give us the LNG, he said yesterday.Ari has said that Pertamina is still attempting to approach Oman. He added that the time of negotiation cannot be settled. We hope that it can be quick. Japan is very angry, he said.This year Indonesia is said certainly to fail in dispatching 79 cargo of LNG to buyers in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Of the amounts, nine cargo were from Arun Refineries at Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and the remaining 70 cargo attained from Badak Refineries at East Kalimantan.One cargo of Indonesian LNG worth around US$25 million. Should Indonesia fail to ship the cargo, there will be reserve losses at around US$1.9 billion. While one cargo of LNG on the spot market is valued at US$35 million.According to Ari, it is not easy now to secure LNG suppliers. The reason is that LNG is only manufactured by a few countries in the world. Most of the LNG manufacturers are bound by contract with the buyers, he said.Apart from Indonesia, other world's manufacturers of LNG are Australia, Nigeria, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Egypt and Oman. All of those countries, Ari said, are able to acquire the LNG. There is only one that is subject to negotiation with Oman. We are still negotiating, he said. Last year, Indonesia failed to export as much as 46 cargo of LNG to buyers in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. The failure has resulted in lost revenue of reserves, which is estimates at around US$1.2 billion. Indonesia is now listed as the highest exporting country of LNG in the world. Each year, Indonesia's average exports of LNG reaches 30 million tons. However, as of the last four years Indonesia's gas exports have been decreasing every year. Based on data of gas reserves and sales contract commitments, the amount of gas reserves in East Kalimantan totals to 24.660 trillion cubic feet (TCF). Of the amount, as much as 10.115 TCF is utilized to comply with exports and domestic sales. In addition, there is uncommitted sales contract for exports amounting to 3.516 TCF and domestic industries of 15.931 TCF so that there is still a gas deficit of 2.619 TCF of the total reserves.Muhamad Fasabeni, Ali Nur Yasin
