Southeast Asia increases security at key energy sites: Report
Saturday, October 19 2002 - 04:50 AM WIB
Indonesia, where Saturday's bombings at a busy nightspot in Bali killed more than 180 people, drafted in extra troops to oil, gas and power production facilities and refineries, including key sites in Riau in East Java, Borneo island and north Sumatra.
Indonesia is Southeast Asia's biggest oil and gas producer, pumping about 1.1 million barrels daily of crude and exporting 23 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year.
"Our primary security at these facilities is provided by Pertamina staff, but we're backed up by the police and army," said Ridwan Nyak Baik, a spokesman for state oil firm Pertamina.
"Operations have not been affected and daily production is going on smoothly."
Governments and oil companies tightened security last year following the September 11 plane hijack attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
But the latest bombings closer to home have led to a beefing up of security arrangements.
Officials at the Department of Energy in the Philippines, where bomb blasts in a shopping mall killed seven people on Thursday, said security was being stepped up at a key offshore gas field and around oil depots in the capital Manila.
"Now we have requested increased military and police presence around our offices and all oil and power facilities," energy undersecretary Jocot de Dios said by telephone from Manila.
"We have received the usual alerts that come with bombings, but have received no specific threats," he said.
MALAMPAYA RING-FENCED
De Dios said patrols were likely to be increased around the country's only gas field at Malampaya, offshore Palawan in southwest Philippines.
"There are already two fast cruiser boats from the coast guard patrolling around the gas field and the pipeline and there may soon be a third and a helicopter," said de Dios.
Malampaya, operated by Royal Dutch/Shell , is already cordoned by a no-fly, no-fishing and no-dredging zone.
De Dios said vigilance would be stepped up at hydroelectric power plants and transmission lines on the southern island Mindanao, where 1,500-1,700 megawatts of generation capacity.
Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said there was no specific threat to energy installations.
"Nevertheless, our security agencies have introduced appropriate measures at all checkpoints and certain premises...In addition, the police have increased the frequency of their patrols," the ministry said in a written statement.
Singapore, Asia's oil trading hub, has four refineries with a total daily crude processing capacity of 1.265 million barrels. Latest data from government body International Enterprise Singapore showed 25.6 million barrels of refined products in onshore commercial storage in the week ending October 16.
MALAYSIA STAYS CALM
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warned on Friday that Malaysia, Southeast Asia's second-ranked oil and gas producer after Indonesia, could also suffer bomb attacks.
Malaysian officials were not available for comment on security operations, but Shell Malaysia said it had contacted authorities about any risks.
"We have been assured that the security in the country is very much under control, and have been asked not to be unduly alarmed as there is no supporting evidence to indicate risk of any imminent attack on specific targets in the country," said Wahiruddin Wahid, Shell's corporate affairs general manager.
Bowon Vongsinudom, chairman of Thailand's Petroleum Refining Industry Club, told a seminar on Thursday that the country's six refineries were several kilometres from security fencing and were well guarded, including sniffer dogs.
Energy companies in Australia also have stepped up precautions at oil, gas and power installations, even at the Moomba gas plant in the remote outback in South Australia, which produces more than one-third of the country's gas.
Global ocean crime watchdog the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) warned on Monday that oil tankers and gas ships in Middle Eastern, Pakistani and Indonesian waters should be alert to fresh attacks after a suspected suicide bombing of the French-flagged Limburg tanker in the Gulf of Aden on October 6.
IMB director Captain Pottengal Mukundan urged the Indonesian government and navy to tighten up security measures in the Strait of Malacca off Indonesia, one of the world's busiest ocean passages especially for very large crude tankers.
Insurers have raised war-risk charges by an average of 15 percent for ships calling at Gulf ports and surcharges to Indonesia are set to rise next Friday. (*)