S'pore expects natural gas from Indonesia in December

S'pore expects natural gas from Indonesia in December

SINGAPORE (DPA): The first supplies of Indonesian natural gas
to Singapore are expected in December or six months ahead of
schedule with the completion of a 640 kilometer undersea
pipeline, it was reported on Wednesday.

The pipeline connecting the city-state with the West Natuna
fields "is ready and the first delivery is in December," The
Business Times quoted a source as saying.

SembCorp Gas, which is purchasing 325 million standard cubic
feet daily of Natuna gas from Indonesia's Pertamina under a 22-
year agreement, confirmed it is ready to deliver to its customers
on Jurong Island "ahead of schedule."

Pertamina and Malaysia's Petronas struck a preliminary deal
last week for deliveries from West Natuna starting in 2002.
Petronas only needs to build a new 40-km pipeline from its Duyong
gas field to connect to West Natuna.

The link is regarded as strategic since it will be part of the
proposed Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline grid linking the region.

"Such a link will open up markets to producers like Malaysia
and Indonesia, and provide better and cheaper supplies to
countries like Thailand and the Philippines," an industry
consultant told the newspaper.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups 10
countries.

Singapore's purchase agreement with Indonesia is expected to
generate some US$8 billion for the beleaguered country.

A second Singapore-Indonesian gas deal is being negotiated
between Singapore Gas, a unit of Singapore Power, and Pertamina
involving the supply of 350 million standard cubic feet of gas
daily from the Asamera field in Sumatra.