Indonesia seeking opportunity to sell Natuna gas to Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand (ANTARA News) - Indonesia is currently exploring the possibility of selling natural gas from its Natuna Block to Thailand because channeling the gas to domestic consumers will be too costly.

Visiting Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro spoke about the effort to market Natuna gas in Thailand at a dinner at the Indonesian Embassy here on Friday.

Purnomo said shipping gas from the Natuna Block to the domestic markets was expensive as the block was located in a far-flung part of the Indonesian archipelago.

"Natuna is located near the Vietnamese border, and transporting the gas to the domestic markets will be too costly," he said.

Therefore, the Indonesian government was now putting out feelers on the possibility of selling the Natuna gas to Thailand. The exploration was being done by a government team in Thailand.

The minister on the occasion asked for the Indonesian embassy`s assistance in directing the team in its mission. After the exploration team had accomplished its task, another team would come to Thailand to handle negotiations on the gas sale.

Purnomo said the two countries had actually already begun preliminary talks on Indonesian gas supply in 1997 but the talks came to a halt as both countries were hit by economic crisis.

The discussions had now been reopened as the two countries had recovered from the crisis while Thailand was now also in great need of gas supply, he said.

The Natuna fields are estimated to be able to produce one billion cubic feet of natural gas per year.