increased demand for ewc

I bet they would love the reserves held by EWC.

Mitsubish-led LNG project may be shelved

  Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor

LOS ANGELES, Apr. 28 -- The Japanese-led consortium seeking to build the
Senoro LNG plant in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, may have to delay its plans
due to lower reserves of natural gas in the Senoro and Matindok fields than
earlier estimated.

"We are now waiting for the operators to decide whether they still want to
develop the project with the lower proven reserve," said Indonesia's Energy
and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, in reference to the
consortium comprised of state-owned PT Pertamina (Persero), PT Medco E&P,
and Mitsubishi Corp.

Purnomo, who said upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas also would discuss
the matter with the consortium, announced Indonesia's state-owned oil and
gas research and development center (Lemigas) had found reserves in the
fields to be lower than the consortium's estimate of 2.4 tcf.

The minister did not detail Lemigas' findings, saying the institution
"might" publish its results later on. But ministry adviser and former
BPMigas chairman Kardaya Warnika said the lower proven gas reserves meant
the LNG plant could not meet its initial production target.

"Lower proven gas reserves means less LNG production," said Kardaya. "Thus
the plant may not be able to meet its initial production target of 2 million
tonnes/year of LNG."

The Senoro LNG project came under public scrutiny when PT LNG Energi Utama
(LEU) last August filed a lawsuit against Mitsubishi over claims the
Japanese firm had unfairly won the project.

LEU, which claims exclusive rights to be involved in the Senoro LNG project,
filed its lawsuit with Indonesia's Business Competition Supervisory Agency,
which still has the case under review.

Mitsubishi holds a 51% stake in the Senoro LNG project, while Pertamina
holds 29% and Medco E&P holds 20%.