Indonesia and Japanese buyers have reached an agreement on the price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be supplied by the country under a new 10-year contract.

The price is set above US$18 per million British Thermal Units (BTU) based on a crude oil price of US$110 per barrel.

It was the highest price for LNG in the world, the deputy for finance, economy and marketing at the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Body (BP Migas) Djoko Harsono said.

The new contract would be a renewal of the old contracts for Arun and Bontang LNG to expire in 2010-2011, Djoko said.

The LNG prices under the old contract range from US$13 - US$18 per million BTU on the same crude oil price basis of US$110 a barrel, the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia said.

Japan chose to import LNG from Indonesia, though with a higher price as the transport costs were higher from other potential suppliers such as from Qatar and Russia

(C) 2008 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd.