Pertamina Expects Indonesian LNG Demand to More Than Double by 2020

State owned Pertamina expects Indonesia’s domestic LNG demand to more than double by 2020, news agency Reuters reported Tuesday.

The company is also seeking to ink more exports deals amid delay in major gas projects.

"The (demand) number is getting bigger and bigger. Today we are targeting more than 5 million tonnes of LNG by 2020," said Arief Basuki, Pertamina's general manager for LNG trading, on the sidelines of a conference in Jakarta on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

He further stated that given the rising demand the company will need to import an additional 1.5 million tons a year.

According to Reuters, Basuki had said earlier at the conference Pertamina was in the final stages of signing a deal to purchase 2.4 million tonnes of LNG a year through domestic and import deals but declined to name the suppliers.

He said the state company hoped to close the deals by the end of the year.

The current forecast for Indonesia's domestic LNG demand in 2015 is around 2 million tonnes, Basuki told Reuters.