Malaysia plans to lay another pipeline to supply natural gas to the northern part of the Malay Peninsula, OPEC News Agency (Opecna) reports.
Project cost is estimated at almost $1 billion, and completion is scheduled for 1995. Design and engineering work is under way on the 530 km line to Perlis state near the border with Thailand, said Azizan Zainal Abidin, president of Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (Petronas). In addition, a fourth gas processing plant is being built at Kertih.
Meantime, talks are under way with Petroleum Authority of Thailand about exporting Malaysian gas to Thailand, but Azizan said that will depend on when Thailand needs the supplies.
The proposed system is the third stage of the Peninsular Gas Utilization (PGU) project. The second stage, an $833 million, 730 km pipeline, was commissioned last December. It will supply 150 MMcfd of gas to Singapore for power generation (OGJ, Feb. 10, p. 47).
"The challenge for us now is to continue to harness these reserves in a cost effective manner and initiate the much advocated intra-Asean gas supply and utilization scheme," said Syed Hamid Laber, minister of oil and gas in the Malaysian prime minister's office.
The PGU project would be incorporated into a proposed transnational Asia-Pacific gas grid (OGJ, Sept. 9, 1991, Newsletter). A feasibility study on the $10 billion project has been submitted to authorities of a six nation group, Opecna reported. The project is to be complete by 2010.
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