PETRONAS RECEIVES FIRST GAS FROM WEST NATUNA: CEREMONY WITNESSED BY DR MAHATHIR AND PRESIDENT MEGAWATI

PETRONAS today received the delivery of first natural gas from West Natuna, Indonesia, marking a key milestone in the relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as between PETRONAS and its Indonesian counterpart PERTAMINA.

The historic occasion was witnessed by the heads of both countries, Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad and President Megawati Soekarnoputri, at a ceremony held at Istana Tampaksiring in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

The natural gas from West Natuna is delivered via a 100-km, 18-inch pipeline from the Hang Tuah moveable offshore production platform in the Indonesian waters to the Duyong gas platform offshore Peninsular Malaysia. The Hang Tuah facility is operated by Conoco Indonesia Inc. Ltd, while the Duyong platform is operated by PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of PETRONAS. From Duyong, the gas is transported through an existing pipeline to PETRONAS’ onshore gas terminal in Kertih before it is fed into the Peninsular Gas Utilisation (PGU) pipeline system to supply to the increasing demand from PETRONAS’ customers.

Under the Gas Sales Agreement signed between PETRONAS and PERTAMINA in March 2001, PERTAMINA will supply up to 250 million standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas per day for a period of 20 years. Initially, about 100 million SCF will be supplied per day, with the volume expected to peak at 250 million SCF per day. By the end of the 20-year period, approximately 1.5 trillion SCF of gas will have been purchased by PETRONAS.

The 100-km pipeline is the latest component of the growing interconnection of cross-border gas infrastructure in ASEAN and charts another important step towards the realisation of the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline network. The linkages to and interconnection between the existing and future infrastructure in the gas-prolific areas in ASEAN will help secure the supply of gas to meet the region’s increasing energy requirements.

The Indonesian portion of the West Natuna-Duyong connection was built by Conoco Indonesia, as the production sharing contractor for Block B in West Natuna while the Malaysian portion was built by PETRONAS Carigali.

At the gas delivery inauguration ceremony, PETRONAS was represented by its Chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Azizan Zainul Abidin and its President and Chief Executive Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Hassan Marican. PERTAMINA was represented by its President Director Bapak Baihaki Hakim, while Conoco Indonesia by its President Mr Patrick L. Meyer. Other guests included senior officials of the Indonesian and Malaysian governments.

Issued by
Media Relations & Information Department

Aug 8, 2002OffshoreMan

Source link