Natuna leak halts gas supply
Natuna leak halts gas supply
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The natural gas supply from Natuna islands in the South China
Sea to Singapore has been suspended following the discovery of a
leak in the underwater pipeline.
It is still unclear how the incident will impact on the city
state, which has increasingly become dependent on gas from
Indonesia for its power and petrochemical plants, or whether
Singapore will demand compensation from Indonesia.
Officials said the supply was suspended on Friday afternoon
after a sharp drop of pressure inside the pipe indicated a leak
at a location approximately 104 kilometers northwest of Matak
island and 80 meters deep.
"We have yet to determine the cause of the leak, because we
haven't seen the pictures taken by the divers yet," said Trijana
Kartoatmodjo, deputy chairman of BP Migas, which oversees
Indonesian upstream activities.
Trijana said that BP Migas had dispatched a team on Saturday
morning to find the exact location of the leak in the 650-
kilometer pipeline.
"We hope that we can finish repairing it on Monday, or
Wednesday at the latest, so that the gas supply to Singapore will
not be disturbed," he said.
Natural gas in the pipeline is sourced from ConocoPhilips'
Natuna Offshore Block B, Premier Oil-operated Natuna Block A and
Star Energy-operated Kakap block. Singapore's SembCorp. Gas uses
the gas as feedstock for petrochemical plants and fuel for power
plants.
Right now, Singapore can still use gas left in the pipeline,
but Trijana did not disclose the amount of the residual gas and
when it would run out.
Trijana said that until now Singapore had not filed any
complaint. He added that BP Migas had notified Singapore to use
the residual gas for petrochemical plants only, not for power
plants, for the time being.
Under the 22-year contract signed in January 1999, gas
supplies from West Natuna to Singapore will generate a total
revenue of between US$6 billion to $7 billion for the Indonesian
government.
A similar incident also happened on Aug. 5, 2002, when the gas
supply from West Natuna to Singapore was disrupted by an
automated computer system. It caused large parts of Singapore to
suffer a blackout for one and half hours.
The West Natuna-Singapore pipeline is one of the world's
longest underwater pipelines.