Pertamina to be offered Tangguh condensate -watchdog

JAKARTA Aug 10 (Reuters) - State oil firm Pertamina will be given priority to buy condensate produced from the BP-led (BP.L) Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Papua, Indonesia's energy watchdog said on Monday.

The Tangguh project, which has a capacity to produce 7.6 million tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG via two trains, is expected to produce 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate when it reaches full capacity.

"We will offer the condensate to Pertamina as the priority buyer," Edi Purwanto, deputy chief of the energy watchdog, BPMIGAS, told Reuters.

Purwanto said Tangguh was expected to start producing a small amount of condensate from October. He give no figures.

BPMIGAS has oversight of the operations of oil and gas companies operating in Indonesia, including the sale of oil, gas, and condensate.

A Pertamina official said the company would consider whether it needed the condensate from Tangguh.

"We will see how we can use the condensate at our refinery. If we can blend it with crude, we may buy it," said the official, who declined to be identified.

Purwanto said the condensate would be priced using Indonesia's crude price formula.

Indonesia's crude oil production fell slightly to 826,600 bpd in July from 829,200 bpd in June. The country's condensate output was stable at around 120,000 bpd in July, unchanged from June.

Indonesia is Asia's biggest importer of oil products, since Pertamina's nine refineries can only supply 70 percent of domestic oil product consumption. (Reporting by Muklis Ali; Editing by Ed Davies and Clarence Fernandez)