Full gas supply to Singapore hoped to resume soon

Sandy Darmosumarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The full supply of natural gas from West Natuna to Singapore is likely to resume on Tuesday after a halt since early last week due to a two-inch leak in the 650-kilometer gas pipeline located 80 meters under the sea, according to the authority.

"A missing bleeder valve caused the leak. However, we still do not know what caused the valve to be missing," said Trijana Kartoatmodjo, deputy chairman of the country's oil and gas regulator BP Migas.

The pipes's bleeder valve is part of a subsea valve called Subsea Tie-in North. Last week, the Subsea Tie-in South was shut to isolate the leak, located approximately 104 kilometers northwest of Matak island, to allow continuous supply of natural gas to Singapore from ConocoPhillips' Blok B.

Supplies of natural gas from Premier Oil -- another West Natuna's offshore gas producer beside ConocoPhillips -- to Singapore can only resume after the leak is successfully repaired.

"A repair team will arrive at the location of the leak tonight. Given good weather, divers will start working tomorrow morning. If all goes well, gas can start filling the pipe on Monday when pressure will be regulated before the reopening of the Subsea Tie-in South," Trijana told The Jakarta Post.

"We have to raise the pressure from 400 psi (pressure per square inch) to 700 psi before resuming full gas supply. Pressure in the north, where the leak is located, must be higher than that in the south toward Singapore in order to prevent a reverse flow," he said.

In a previous report, Trijana indicated that partial supply of gas to Singapore would resume on Nov. 18. On Thursday, he stated that the supply of gas to Singapore had not been disrupted since then. However, Dow Jones reported on the same day that gas supply was then down to about 50-60 percent from 75 percent last week.

"Currently, Singapore still receives 240 btu (British thermal units) per day, an amount below its usual 350 billion btu per day," commented Trijana.

The pipeline supplies natural gas to Singapore's SembCorp, which then retails the gas as feedstock for petrochemical plants and fuel for power plants.

While gas supply from the West Natuna's offshore gas producers was disrupted, corporate customers like PowerSeraya and Tuas Power were getting gas supplies from alternative sources. However, Dow Jones reported that alternative supplies were no longer available.