Trans-ASEAN gas grid on schedule despite slowdown: project chief

Trans-ASEAN gas grid on schedule despite slowdown: project chief

Julia Yeow
Agence France-Presse
Kuala Lumpur

Work on a regional gas project linking the national networks
of Southeast Asian countries is on track despite the global
economic slowdown, the project chief said Tuesday.

Mohd Farid Mohd Amin, chief coordinator of the Trans-ASEAN Gas
Pipeline (TAGP) taskforce, attributed this to the undiminished
need for cheaper and more efficient energy sources in the region.

The network, which will link the 10 members of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is due to be completed in
2015 at an estimated cost of US$7 billion, excluding drilling.

"The slowdown might impact the scheduling of the project, but
work will not be greatly hindered because member countries still
need energy and want to expand their energy sources," Farid told
AFP.

"We are currently on track and will continue to use all the
resources we have.

"We already have all the support from the governments, from
the officials, so the ingredients are already there. Now (we are
waiting) for the relevant parties to come in," he said.

Despite his optimism over the scheduled completion of the
4,000-kilometer pipeline, Farid acknowledged there were many
obstacles ahead.

The gas grid project, besides facing problems in terms of
regulatory, legal and environmental cross-border issues, would
now have to deal with the rise in costs after the economic
downturn, he said.

"In view of the relatively high cost of delivering this
natural gas, a creative win-win arrangement for gas sellers and
buyers and more cost effective technology is necessary," Farid
earlier told an ASEAN Council on Petroleum conference here.