Asean members to sign MOU on gas grid project next year: Report

Members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) are working on a framework for cooperation to pursue the Asean gas pipeline grid project.

?The members hope to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the framework next year,? a spokeswoman at the Philippines Department of Energy (DOE) Evangeline L. Moises told Business Times.

?But the date is not yet set... officials are still working out the details of the MOU,? she said, adding they had started discussing the contents of the MOU since the Asean summit in Brunei early last month.

The Asean Council for Petroleum (Ascope) is overseeing the project which is aimed at further developing securing energy supplies for the region, a source said.

At its meeting in Kuala Lumpur recently, Ascope had said that the Trans Asean Gas Pipeline is expected to be completed by 2005.

All Asean nations, except Laos, is represented in Ascope.

It is understood that the proposed 10,000km grid comprises five main components to connect Malaysia and Thailand; Indonesia and Malaysia; Myanmar and Thailand; Indonesia and Singapore; and Malampaya and Sabah.

Meanwhile, Moises said Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is one of the corporations interested in participating in a project to build a Sabah-Palawan pipeline.

The state-owned Philippine National Oil Co-Exploration Corp is in talks with Petronas to develop the 1,000km offshore link.

It represents the second phase of the development of the Philippines? natural gas industry, with the US$2-billion (US$1 = RM3.80) exploration and development of the Malampaya gas fields drawing to a close.

About 2,540km of Asean cross-border pipelines are already in place between Malaysia and Singapore, Myanmar and Thailand, and Indonesia and Singapore. The link-up was first used last January when gas from Indonesia was transported to Singapore via a US$1.5-billion Indonesia-Singapore pipeline.(*)