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tate-owned oil and gas enterprise PT Pertamina will import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States over the next four years to meet the surge in the gas demand in the country, an official from the company said.

The company would purchase LNG from an American gas supplier under a 10-year contract of between 2018 and 2028, Pertamina business and marketing director Hanung Budya Yuktyanta said in Ulsan, South Korea.

'€œWe have reached an agreement to buy LNG with a total annual capacity of 800,000 tons for the 10-year period,'€ he said after an inauguration ceremony for the company'€™s new very large crude vessels (VLCC) in the Korean city.

According to a 2012 US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) data, the US was the world'€™s biggest natural gas producer in 2012 with a total annual production of 611 million cubic meters, followed by Russia and Canada with 589 million cubic meters and 152 million cubic meters, respectively.

Indonesia is also one of the world'€™s largest LNG producers, but most of its LNG production is sold to South Korea, Japan and China under long-term contracts.

Hanung said that Indonesia had to import LNG to meet demand because domestic-LNG production had begun to decline due to the depletion of gas reserves.

Pertamina director for gas Hari Karyuliarto said previously that the company'€™s LNG production in Bontang, East Kalimantan, and Arun, Aceh, was expected to decline by 17 percent to 172 cargoes this year from 208 cargoes last year (one cargo measures about 125,000 cubic meters).

Hari said that from the total cargoes, only 22 would be delivered to the domestic market as Pertamina had long-term export commitments with foreign buyers, particularly those from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Hanung said that the LNG to be imported by Pertamina would also be used to convert liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is currently consumed by no fewer than 55 million households across the archipelago.

He said that Pertamina would buy two LNG tankers with a total capacity of between 140 and 170 million cubic meters for each tanker, to support the transportation of the imported LNG from the US in the future.

Hanung, however, refused to reveal the details of the estimated budget and possible tanker manufacturer(s).

Speaking in another occasion at Ulsan, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (HHI) president director OH Kim said that his company would be interested in the tender to procure LNG carriers.

'€œWe are surely interested to manufacture LNG carrier[s] for Pertamina, but we'€™re not limited our business with Pertamina to only [LNG and LPG] carrier-procurement,'€ he said.

The Ulsan-based shipbuilder has so far procured Pertamina with six vessels, which consist of two very large crude vessels (VLCCs) bought in 2004, two standard-size LPG carriers bought in 2010 and two recently bought very large gas carriers (VLGCs).

HHI delivered more than 1,900 ships across the globe and led the shipbuilding market with a market share of around 20 percent last year, HHI senior vice president for customer service of shipbuilding division JC Bae said.