Malaysia LNG Tiga Sdn Bhd (MLNG Tiga) today signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Tohoku Electric Power Co Inc to supply up to 900,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year to the latter for 20 years beginning from 2005.
The LNG will be supplied from MLNG Tiga’s plant in Bintulu, Sarawak, and will be delivered to Tohoku Electric by LNG tankers owned by Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Bhd (MISC), a subsidiary of PETRONAS. The LNG will be transported from Malaysia’s LNG loading terminal at Bintulu to the LNG receiving terminal at Seiro-machi, Kitakanbara-gun, in the Niigata Prefecture in Japan.
MLNG Tiga, a joint-venture between PETRONAS (60 percent), Sarawak State Government (10 percent), Shell Gas BV (15 percent), Nippon Oil LNG (Netherlands) BV (10 percent) and Diamond Gas Netherlands BV (5 percent), is currently developing the LNG plant, which is Malaysia’s third LNG production facility in Bintulu. Started in late 1999, the plant will comprise two liquefaction trains, each with an annual production capacity of 3.4 million tonnes. Scheduled to commence commercial operations in 2003, the plant, together with the two existing plants respectively owned and operated by Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd (MLNG) and Malaysia LNG Dua Sdn Bhd (MLNG Dua), will make the Bintulu LNG complex the world’s single largest LNG production facility with a combined capacity of about 23 million tonnes per year.
Tohoku Electric is the fourth largest electricity provider in Japan, supplying power in the Tohoku region in the North Honshu island. In 1994, the company concluded a 20-year contract with MLNG for the purchase of 500,000 tonnes of LNG annually beginning 1996. MLNG has to date delivered 36 cargoes of LNG to Tohoku Electric. With the agreement signed today with MLNG Tiga, Tohoku Electric’s import of LNG from Malaysia will increase to 1.4 million tonnes per year.
MLNG Tiga has signed Confirmation of Intents with JAPEX of Japan (500,000 tonnes per annum), the Japanese Gas Consortium consisting of Tokyo Gas Co Ltd, Toho Gas Co Ltd and Osaka Gas Co Ltd (1.6 million tonnes per anum) and Metgas of India (2.6 million tonnes per annum) and is currently in the final stages of concluding the sales and purchase agreements with the buyers.
At the agreement signing ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur today, MLNG Tiga was represented by its Chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Hassan Marican, who is also President and Chief Executive of PETRONAS, while Tohoku Electric was represented by its President Mr Toshiaki Yashima.
Issued by
Legal & Corporate Affairs Division
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