Marathon Subsidiary and BPMIGAS Sign Memorandum of Understanding for Long Term Supply of LNG From Indonesia to Tijuana Regional Energy Center
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Thursday July 24, 1:35 pm ET
HOUSTON, July 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Marathon Oil
Corporation (NYSE: MRO - News) and its joint development
partners in the Tijuana Regional Energy Center project, Grupo
GGS, S.A. de C.V. and Golar LNG Limited, announced today that
Marathon subsidiary GNBC VENTAS, S. de R.L. de C.V. (GNBC)
has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with
BPMIGAS, the government regulator of Indonesian upstream oil
and gas activities, under which BPMIGAS would coordinate the
negotiation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply agreements to
provide GNBC with between three and six million metric tonnes
of LNG per year for a period of 20 years.
The LNG would be shipped
to the proposed Tijuana
Regional Energy Center
being developed by Marathon
and its project partners near
Tijuana, Baja California,
Mexico. The MOU could lead
to the execution of one or
more definitive LNG
purchase and sale
agreements.
LNG supply sources could
include the existing liquefaction plant at Bontang, East
Kalimantan, or planned liquefaction projects in Irian Jaya or
Sulawesi and would be subject to the ongoing negotiations with
production sharing contract holders, with support and approval of
BPMIGAS.
"We are very pleased to have entered into this important MOU
with BPMIGAS," said John S. Hattenberger, senior vice president
of Marathon International Petroleum, Ltd. "Indonesia has the
potential to be a significant supplier of LNG to the Tijuana
Regional Energy Center and we look forward to finalizing the
necessary agreements that will serve as the basis for a
long-term, mutually beneficial relationship."
Announced in 2002, the proposed Tijuana Regional Energy
Center is an integrated complex that will consist of an LNG
offloading terminal and a 750 million cubic feet per day
regasification plant, a 1,200-megawatt power generation plant to
supply regional electricity needs, a 20-million gallon per day
seawater desalination plant to provide fresh water for the city of
Tijuana, wastewater treatment facilities to augment existing
processing capacity of the San Antonio de Los Buenos treatment
plant, and related natural gas pipeline infrastructure.
Currently, GNBC and its affiliates are proceeding with necessary
regulatory reviews and permits as required by federal and local
authorities in Mexico. Assuming timely regulatory approvals and
execution of successful commercial and financing plans,
construction of the Tijuana Regional Energy Center would begin
in early 2004, with start up expected in late 2006 or early 2007.
This release contains forward-looking statements concerning the
expected execution of LNG purchase and sale agreements and
the planned construction of LNG re-gasification, power
generation and related facilities. This forward- looking information
may prove to be inaccurate and actual results may differ
significantly from those presently anticipated. Factors but not
necessarily all factors that could adversely affect these expected
results include, unforeseen difficulty in negotiation of definitive
LNG supply agreements, definitive agreements among project
participants, identification of additional participants to reach
optimum levels of participation, inability or delay in obtaining
necessary government and third party approvals, arranging
sufficient project financing, unanticipated changes in market
demand or supply, competition with similar projects,
environmental and permitting issues, availability or construction
of sufficient LNG vessels, and unforeseen hazards such as
weather conditions. In accordance with "safe harbor" provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Marathon
Oil Corporation has included in its Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2002, and in subsequent
Forms 10-Q and 8-K, cautionary language identifying other
important factors, though not necessarily all such factors, that
could cause future outcomes to differ materially from those set
forth in the forward-looking statements.
Source: Marathon Oil Corporation |
