RI may supply LNG to Singapore

RI may supply LNG to Singapore

Indonesia said it is willing to supply liquefied natural gas
to Singapore, which is examining the feasibility of setting up a
terminal to import the fuel.

"If we can reach an agreement, we would be very keen to bring
our gas to Singapore," said Iin Arifin Takhyan, Indonesia's
director general of oil and gas, during the OSEA 2004 oil and gas
conference in Singapore on Tuesday.

Natural gas, used to generate 60 percent of Singapore's power,
is currently supplied through pipelines from gas fields in
Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Energy Market Authority, Singapore's power regulator, is
considering ways to diversify the country's gas supply after a
power failure blacked out almost a third of Singapore in June.

Singapore's government last month asked Royal Dutch/Shell
Group and four other companies to submit proposals for a
feasibility study on the import of LNG.

The study is expected to start in January next year and be
completed within 12 months, Vivian Balakrishnan, senior minister
of state for trade and industry said in a speech at the
conference's opening ceremony.

"With such infrastructure, we could import LNG to diversify
our gas sources and also have the opportunity to develop a market
for gas trading," Balakrishnan said.

"We hope to ride on Singapore's experience as an oil hub to
establish a firm foundation to develop Singapore into a hub for
gas." -- Bloomberg