Mexico ready to buy gas, coal from Indonesia

Mexico City (ANTARA News) - Three giant Mexican companies have expressed readiness to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal from Indonesia, Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said here on Sunday. 

"This is the result of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's one-on-one meeting with the leaders of three Mexican companies, namely Sempra Energy, Tamssa-Axtellarat Energy, and Transportation Maritim Mexico (TMM) at the Presidente Intercontinental Hotel here," Yusgiantoro said. 

He said Sempra Energy was ready to buy 3.7 million tons of LNG from Tangguh with the shipments to Mexico to start in the second semester of 2009. 

"Sempra Energy has 3 gas terminals in Baha, California, and their LNG demand will be supplied from our Tangguh field," Yusgiantoro said after accompanying President Yudhoyono at the one-on-one meeting. 

The minister said Indonesia had a final agreement with Sempra Energy and thus it was expected that the LNG would start to be shipped to Mexico through Baha gas terminal in California. 

"Sempra's gas terminal has been completed and its chief visited the Tangguh terminal. Therefore, the gas is expected to be shipped to California," Yusgiantoro said. 

He added that 65 percent of the US$1 billion in proceeds from the LNG sale to Mexico would accrue to government and 35 percent to the operator of the Tangguh field. 

Meanwhile, Tamssa-Axtelarat was exploring the possibility of building two gas terminals in Indonesia, one in Gresik, East Java, and another in Banten. 

The energy minister said Tamssa-Axtellarat would cooperate with a consortium consisting of Indonesia's state oil and gas company Pertamina, electricity company PLN and gas company Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN). 

"Axtellarat has the capability to build gas terminals at sea, and the gas from the two terminals which are to be built by Mexico in Indonesia will be used to meet gas demand in Java," Yusgiantoro said. 

He said the third Mexican company, TMM, would buy 6 million tons of coal per year from Indonesia to fire power plants in Mexico. 

Yusgiantoro said Mexico still had to complete a coal port building project but in the one-on-one meeting with President Yudhoyono, the TMM chief said he was ready to speed up the port building project to facilitate the purchase of coal from Indonesia. 

In the one-on-one meeting, President Yudhoyono was accompanied by Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Trade Minister Mari Pangestu, State Minister/State Secretary Hatta Rajasa, and presidential spokesmen Dino Patti Djalal and Andi Malarangeng.