PGN will build gas station to monitor Jambi-Singapore grid

State owned gas company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) will build a gas station in Semping island, near Batam, Riau, with an investment of about US$400 million, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Saturday.

Nursubagjo Prijono, the director of the company?s operation unit in Gresik, said in Batam on Friday that the gas station would be used to monitor the flow of the gas in the planned undersea gas grid, which would transmit natural gas from gas fields in Jambi to Singapore through Batam.

"The station is needed to monitor the gas pipeline network so that a leakage could be prevented,? he said, adding that the station would be also used to distribute part of the gas to industries in Batam.

He said that the project which would be started by the end of this year was scheduled for completion in 2003.

PGN earlier said that it would spend about US$1.58 billion to build a gas pipeline linking South Sumatera and Singapore as part of its program to expand its gas distribution networks.(*)