BP calls for more LNG carriers

UK-based BP Oil company is seeking bids from Indonesian shipowners to supply five 160,000 cubic metre LNG carriers at a total value of $850 million to carry the fuel from the proposed Tangguh plant in West Papua. PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi and PT Samudera Indonesia, the country?s largest container line, are among the shipping companies which may bid to supply the gas carriers.

BP’s $5 billion Tangguh project, which will start in 2008, will boost the order books at shipbuilders such as Samsung and Daewoo which have received contracts for 39 LNG carriers so far this year, double last year’s total. BP is seeking ships to carry gas from Tangguh to customers including South Korea’s SK Corporation and Posco. The company also expects to sign an agreement this month to supply the fuel to Sempra Energy, which is building an import terminal in Mexico.

BP, which owns 37.2% of Tangguh and operates the project, may buy an additional six LNG carriers itself to handle some exports from the Indonesian plant and a project being developed in Algeria. The earliest that shipbuilders can deliver new vessels is 2008.

Indonesian companies may ask international partners to take stakes in the shipping project, such as Japan?s Mitsui O.S.K, and the successful bidder will lease the tankers to BP and its partners for 20 years.