JAKARTA, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia planned to import around 100,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinders within the next three months as part of a project to replace subsidized 3-kg liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) canisters and reduce the country's heavy reliance on LPG imports, a senior official said on Monday.

Laode Sulaeman, director general of oil and gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said the government would place an initial bulk order for the cylinders from overseas suppliers because production requires large-scale procurement.

"The imported cylinders would later be tested before wider implementation. We aim to begin the testing within one to two months after the order arrives," he said.

He emphasized that safety would remain the main concern in the project because CNG operated under far higher pressure than conventional LPG.

Indonesia has been seeking alternatives to LPG as the country still imports around 7 million tons of LPG annually, costing the government more than 130 trillion rupiahs (about 7.9 billion U.S. dollars) in foreign exchange and energy subsidies each year.