SINGAPORE�Indonesian state oil and gas company Pertamina said the signing of a 20-year gas sales agreement with Gas Supply Private Ltd., a subsidiary of state utility Singapore Power, has been pushed back to Feb. 12 because of technical issues.
The deal, which could be worth $14 billion, calls for the building of a 483-km pipeline from South Sumatra province to Singapore. The plan was announced last year, and the agreement was expected to be signed in January (OGJ Online, Dec. 4, 2000).
The proposed agreement would call for Pertamina to provide 150 MMcfd of gas starting in 2003, which would ramp up to 350 MMcfd by 2008.
The gas will come from three production-sharing contracts in Sumatra operated by Gulf Indonesia Resources Ltd. and Santa Fe Energy Resources Jabung, a unit of Santa Fe Snyder Corp., Houston.
The announcement comes soon after the commencement of a 22-year agreement by Sembcorp Gas, a 50% owned subsidiary of Singaporean company SembCorp Utilities, to import 325 MMcfd of gas through a 640-km pipeline from Indonesia's West Natuna field.
While 95% of that gas is currently supplied to the power industry, SembGas' president Tang Kin Fei projects that by 2004, this would fall to 70%, with the remaining 30% going into other applications.
SembGas plans to channel a portion of the gas for CNG, an alternative fuel for vehicles.
Wong Kok Siew, deputy chairman and chief executive officer of SembCorp Industries, parent of SembCorp Utilities, said SembCorp Utilities was also studying the feasibility of building Singapore's first natural gas liquid facility to support the specialty chemical companies on Jurong Island. The study was being conducted with the Singapore Economic Development Board.
If the project proves viable, start-up would be in the second half of 2004 with an estimated investment of $150 million (Sing.) ($86.6 million).