Apparently, the state-owned firm is holding “extended talks” with LNG producers.

“The negotiations are a tough process,” Kogas chief executive Oh Kang Hyun said in a brief statement. “[Kogas] expects a decision on the suppliers beginning next year, maybe February.”

Kogas is looking to import as much as 6 million tons per annum for between 20 and 25 years from 2008 to replace an accord with PT Arun NGL which ends in November 2007, according to Bloomberg.

As reported earlier in EnergyReview.Net, Kogas had originally intended to announce the initial agreements with “two or three companies” by the end of this month. Five unnamed bidders were short-listed in October.

“Australia’s North West Shelf venture is one of the five bidders,” Bloomberg reported, citing the Australian Financial Review (AFR).

“The other four bidders are Royal Dutch/Shell Group’s gas project off the coast of Russia’s Sakhalin Island, Total SA’s gas project in Yemen, and LNG ventures in Malaysia and Iran. The AFR did not reveal its sources.”