PGN to announce Transco winner next week
Monday, April 15 2002 - 03:19 PM WIB
Transco I plans to develop the South Sumatra-Singapore gas pipeline, which will deliver about US$9 billion worth of natural gas over 22 years to Singapore starting 2003.
The stake tender, which closed March 26 and is due to be awarded mid-April, has attracted two final bids out of four originally submitted.
The Petronas-led consortium, which includes Singapore Petroleum Co., Talisman Energy Inc. and Gulf Indonesia Resources Ltd., "hopes to win" the tender, said the PGN official.
The other bid is from Kogas, together with American investment firm AIDEC Management Co. Pte. Ltd., or AIMAC.
The bidders who have pulled out are the Singapore Power-led consortium and a partnership between Unocal Corp.and El Paso Corp., he said.
Williams Cos., a key partner in the Singapore Power consortium, had pulled out of the race in February on grounds that the stake acquisition did not fulfill its investment requirements.
The Transco I stake sale has been deferred since late 2001, raising concerns of a possible delay in Indonesia gas exports to Singapore, contractually set to begin second-half 2003.
PGN aims to complete the Sumatra-Singapore pipeline construction tender by May and start construction in June, said an official from PGN's pipeline project execution team.
Funds from the stake sale will make up a US$250 million shortfall in financing for the US$477-million pipeline project, slated for completion in August 2003.
The pipeline construction will be partially financed by the Asian Development Bank, which has committed US$88 million in loans to PGN contingent upon the Transco stake sale. (*)