JDA project to proceed on schedule

JDA project to proceed on schedule

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Development of the natural gas reserves in the Joint Development Area (JDA) of Thailand and Malaysia will proceed on schedule, although other elements of a regional gas pipeline network have been delayed, Savit Bhotivihok, Thailand's minister to the prime minister's office, said Saturday in Singapore.

Savit, Thailand's representative at a meeting of energy ministers from member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, spoke to reporters after the close of the meeting.

At the meeting, according to the released agenda, the ministers reviewed Asean's current electricity and gas cooperation projects. Although Savit wouldn't go into details of the morning's discussion, he said "there were no surprises this morning."

"Certainly, with the slowdown in the economies of Asean, they've been contracting a lot, the demand for energy has reduced, and therefore many of the investment plans for further investments in the power sector or in the energy sector have (been affected), and there is a need for review," he said.

The economic crisis has pushed completion of the trans-Asean gas grid to beyond 2010, Muri Muhammad, vice president of Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd (P.PET), said last month, because the most important link in the grid - from the Natuna gas field to Thailand - has been delayed due to budget cuts in Thailand.

"But, I think the basic (JDA) pipe system will go ahead according to schedule," said Savit, "because there are concrete plans related to the gas utilization in the south of Thailand such as the development of the gas separation plants as well as the linkage to the Malaysian system."

Gas from the JDA is scheduled to start supplying both countries in 2001.