Thailand denies end in gas talks with RI

Thailand denies end in gas talks with RI

BANGKOK (DPA): Thai Deputy Prime Minister Korn Dabaransri has denied reports that the government has ended negotiations with Indonesia for the purchase of natural gas and joint development of the Natuna gas field, Thai newspapers said yesterday.

"Everything is still proceeding within the framework of the memorandum," Korn told the Bangkok Post. "There is no collapse."

The deputy prime minister expressed surprise at a news agency report that talks over the exploitation of the giant 47-trillion- cubic-foot gas field in the South China Sea had collapsed in the wake of Thailand's economic crisis and moves to privatize the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) -- the national oil company.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed in Bangkok in July, 1997, the PTT will take a 12-15 percent stake in the joint exploitation of the Natuna field and invest in a 1,600-kilometer offshore pipeline that would carry the gas to Thailand.

Other investors in the project include the Indonesian state oil firm Pertamina, Malaysian oil company Petronas and U.S. oil companies Esso Exploration & Production of Natuna Inc. and Mobil Natural Gas Alpha.

Under the agreement, supplies of natural gas to Thailand from the Natuna field were scheduled to begin in the year 2005 at an initial rate of 500 million cubic feet per day.

Korn, while denying that negotiations had collapsed, admitted that the start-up date of supply may be delayed and the amount of gas purchased reduced, news reports said.