By the OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 5 -- Start of construction of the Thai-Malay natural gas pipeline will likely be delayed yet again, following a request by the Thai government to set in motion another environmental assessment of the project.
The fate of the pipeline, which would transport gas from the offshore Thai-Malay Joint Development Area (JDA), lay in the hands of the Thai government that was elected earlier this year.
Thai authorities late last year had approved construction of project—which would involve the laying of a 336 km gas pipeline between the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia and the construction of a related onshore gas processing plant—but the project continued to face opposition in the southern Thai province of Songkhla (OGJ Online, Jan. 5, 2001). Construction of the two 425 MMcfd gas processing units was due to begin in Songkhla earlier this year, and the entire project was scheduled to be completed and operational by midyear.
The project will be operated by Trans Thai-Malaysia Ltd., a 50:50 joint venture of Petroleum Authority of Thailand and Petronas. The main section of line, which will carry gas from the JDA to the separation plant, will have capacity for more than 1 bcfd.
