Full gas supply to Singapore hoped to resume soon

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.