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consortium seeking to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Senoro, Central Sulawesi, may have to put its plan on hold, with official studies showing proven gas reserves in the Senoro and Matindok fields are lower than earlier estimated.

The consortium comprises state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, Medco E&P and Japan's Mitsubishi Corp.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Wednesday state-owned oil and gas research and development center (Lemigas) had found gas reserves in the fields were lower than the consortium's earlier estimate of 2.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf).

"We are now waiting for the operators to decide whether they still want to develop the project with the lower proven reserve," he said, adding that upstream oil and gas operator BPMigas would discuss the matter further with the three companies.

Purnomo did not give details on the proven reserves found by Lemigas, saying the institution might publish its official findings later on.

He added the estimate was lower than the consortium's earlier figure.

Medco E&P holds a 20 percent participating interest in Indonesia's fourth LNG plant project, while Pertamina holds 29 percent and Mitsubishi Corp. the remaining 51 percent.

Ministry adviser and former BPMigas chairman Kardaya Warnika said that with the lower proven gas reserves, the LNG plant would not be able to meet its initial production target.

"Lower proven gas reserves means less LNG production," he said.

"Thus the plant may not be able to meet its initial production target of 2 million metric tons of LNG per year."

The Senoro LNG project has already attracted public attention, with local company PT LNG Energi Utama (LEU) filing a lawsuit against Mitsubishi over claims the Japanese company had won the project through unfair business practices.

LEU, which filed the lawsuit last August with the Business Competition Supervisory Agency (KPPU), claims it has exclusive rights to be involved in the project.