FOCUS: ASEAN?s regional gas pipeline project pushed ahead
Thursday, July 31 2003 - 01:47 AM WIB
Next Monday?s inauguration of the South Sumatra-Singapore gas pipeline will be the latest proof of Indonesia?s strong determination to materialize Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline (TAGP), the ambitious cross-border gas pipeline project of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to inaugurate the operation of the 470-kilometer pipeline during a ceremony on Batam Island near Singapore, in the presence of Singapore?s Prime Minister Goh Chock Tong and energy ministers from other ASEAN countries.
The pipeline has a capacity to transmit up to 600 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) of gas from ConocoPhillips? South Sumatra gas fields to Singapore via Kuala Tungka in the eastern coast of Sumatra, Batam and Kempin isle.
Around one year ago, energy ministers from ASEAN countries signed a memorandum of understanding to push ahead with a US$7 billion natural gas pipeline project amidst concerns over oil supply shortages. Their move was in accordance with the cross-border gas pipeline concept and the concept of ASEAN Power Grid, which were adopted by ASEAN heads of states in their summit in Kuala Lumpur in 1997.
The 10-member ASEAN had identified the need for at least 4,500 kilometers of pipeline to complete the TAGP project, and expects it to be completed by 2020.
TAGP is meant to enable ASEAN members to source natural gas from fellow ASEAN members. Moreover, it will give gas producers greater access to markets within ASEAN.
ASEAN comprises Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines.
Indonesia would be a major player in the TAGP because of its enormous gas reserves.
The South Sumatra-Singapore gas pipeline will be the second project of its kind launched by Indonesia and the island state since January 2001, when natural gas was piped for the first time from West Natuna in the South China Sea to Singapore. Then President Abdurrahman Wahid and Goh dedicated the project during a ceremony in Singapore?s Jurong island.
Last August, Megawati and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad inaugurated the first delivery of natural gas from West Natuna field to the Duyong gas platform offshore Peninsular Malaysia. The 96-km pipeline transmitted some 100 MMCFD of gas.
Indonesia is studying the possibility of building a gas pipeline from West Natuna to Thailand.
?Indonesia is ahead of other ASEAN countries in the development of TAGP,? said WMP Simandjuntak, president director of state gas transmission and distribution company PGN.
Simandjuntak added that PGN had planned to build 60-km gas pipeline from Pemping Island in eastern Sumatra to Malaysia?s Johor state.
ASEAN?s first cross border pipeline delivers 150 MMSCF of gas from Malaysia to Singapore. Meanwhile, the Yadana (Myanmar)-Ratchaburi (Thailand) pipeline was completed in 1999, and the Yetagun (Mynamar)-Ratchaburi pipeline was completed in September 2000.
Other projects are on the pipeline, including those meant to deliver gas to Malaysia and Thailand from the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area.
An ASEAN energy minister estimated that the region?s energy demand would reach 400 million tons of oil equivalent (MTOE) in 2020, of which 18 percent would be natural gas. In 2000, it was estimated at 150 MTOE.
Meanwhile, reports say the rise in regional gas demand will partly be driven by the development of the Malaysian and Thai power sectors, with natural gas fueling 60 percent of power generation, and demand from Malaysian, Thai, and Singaporean petrochemical industries.
In Indonesia, PGN has planned an integrated gas pipeline to link Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan in a bid to fulfill the country?s rising demand for gas. The project also aims to popularize the use of the commodity among industrial and household consumers.