Indonesia Not Seeking to Raise Prices of Gas Sold to Singapore

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Indonesia is not seeking to increase prices of natural gas exported to Singapore, despite its intention to reduce the volume delivered, a government official said Wednesday.

“The prices are already good, ranging between $11 and $12 per million British thermal unit,“ Hardiono, vice chairman of upstream oil and gas regulator BP Migas, told Dow Jones Newswires. Hardiono, like many Indonesians, goes by only one name.

Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said the city state will import liquefied natural gas from Qatar and store it at a S$1.5 billion facility currently under construction on Jurong Island, The Straits Times reported Wednesday.

The report said Lee, Singapore's first prime minister and founding father of the modern state, confirmed plans to diversify the nation's gas import sources at a conference in Singapore Tuesday and said the partnership with the Gulf state comes amid uncertainties with current suppliers.

“We are buying gas from our neighbors; they are thinking of upping the price in spite of the contract,“ Lee said.

Earlier this month, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said Indonesia will seek to reduce natural gas exports to Singapore to meet rising domestic demand.

Separately, an official at the energy and mineral resources ministry told Dow Jones Wednesday that the ministry has asked the ministry of foreign affairs to “follow up“ on the plan.

But he added that the ministry of foreign affairs told the energy ministry to “reconsider it, as Singapore for sure will ask for something in return.“ Indonesia is exporting around 775 million standard cubic feet a day of gas to Singapore until 2023.

Source : kompas

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