"Competition from Australian and Qatari suppliers is forcing the cuts," said Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Indonesia's minister of energy and mineral resources.

"We are fully aware that the market structure is shifting from the sellers' market to the buyers market," added Yusgiantoro who also said that Indonesia "may offer more flexible terms for supply contracts" but did not elaborate further.

What the minister did mention was that the price for Indonesian natural gas would be linked to the price of crude oil and that export prices for Japan had "to be higher than domestic prices." No specific figures were given.

Indonesia's competitors in the natural gas market are Malaysia, Australia, Qatar and Oman. All of them are competing for the lucrative Japan, South Korea and Taiwan market.