Natuna pipeline leak not yet fixed
Thursday, November 20 2003 - 02:53 AM WIB
BPMIGAS is hoping to fix the leak most probably by end of this week at the latest. Earlier, Trijana promised to finish the repairs to the pipeline by this Monday or Wednesday.
The leak, which was detected on last Friday, has affected the natural gas supply from Natuna islands in the South China Sea to Singapore.
“In fact, the leak’s location was already spotted but it cannot be fixed yet,” Koran Tempo newspaper reported on Thursday quoting Trijana as saying.
Under the 22-year contract signed in January 1999, Indonesia agreed to supply 350 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) natural gas from West Natuna gas fields to Singapore through a 650-kilometer underwater pipeline. The gas is supplied by a consortium led by American energy firm ConocoPhillips, while the buyer in Singapore is SembCorp Gas Ltd.
Due to the leak, Indonesia is automatically unable to fulfill its natural gas supplies to Singapore
Indonesia is preparing to pay compensation to Singapore because of this leak, Eddy Purwanto, deputy chairman of BP Migas for financial affairs.
Eddy said Indonesia will not pay the compensation in the form of cash but in the form additional gas by end of this year.
Meanwhile, legislator Jusril Jusan said there was no need for the government to reimburse the repair costs of the pipeline because the incident occurred due to the negligence of the pipeline operator.
“Since the underwater pipeline is not covered by rocks as a shield, it was damaged by ship’s anchor,” Jusril said.
Director general of oil and gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Iin Arifin Takhyan confirmed the initial probe had indicated that the leak was possibly caused by ship’s anchor. (*)