Tangguh LNG sends out first cargo

July 7, 2009
Indonesia’s Tangguh LNG project, the country’s third LNG center after Bontang and Arun, lifted its first cargo on July 6, according to operator BP PLC.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 7
-- Indonesia’s Tangguh LNG project, the country’s third LNG center after Bontang and Arun, lifted its first cargo on July 6, according to operator BP PLC. The liquefaction plant is in Papua Barat.

The first cargo marks start-up of the project, slightly more than 4 years after its final approval by the Indonesian government March 2005. The cargo, aboard the Tangguh Foja, sailed for POSCO's LNG regasification terminal in Gwangyang, South Korea.

Tangguh consists of the development of six gas fields in the Wiriagar, Berau, and Muturi production-sharing contracts in the Bintuni area of Papua in eastern Indonesia. Gas produced from two normally unmanned offshore platforms is fed via 22-km pipelines to two onshore liquefaction trains, each with a production capacity of 3.8 million tonnes/year of LNG.

Train 1 began LNG production in mid-June, said BP, producing the LNG for the first cargo, and Train 2 will begin later this year.

Partners, contractors
BP Indonesia (37.16% interest) operates Tangguh as a contractor to the Indonesian oil and gas regulator, BPMigas. Other partners in the project are MI Berau BV (16.3%), CNOOC Ltd. (13.9%), Nippon Oil Exploration (Berau) Ltd. (12.23%), KG Berau/KG Wiriagar (10%), LNG Japan Corp. (7.35%), and Talisman (3.06%).

The project has long-term contracts to supply 2.6 million tpy of LNG to China’s Fujian terminal, 1.15 million tpy to K-Power and POSCO in South Korea, and a flexible contract to supply up to 3.7 million tpy to Sempra's LNG regasification terminal in Baja California, Mexico.

Main engineering contractors for the Tangguh project’s onshore infrastructure are the KJP consortium: Kellogg, Brown & Root (through its subsidiary PT Brown & Root Indonesia), JGC Corp., and PT Pertafenikki Engineering. Lead contractor for offshore and subsea construction was Saipem.