Asia Times: Singapore to gas up with clean, new fuel


	January 17, 2001	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Singapore to gas up with clean, new fuel
By Tay Kok Yat

SINGAPORE - Singapore's buses, taxis and lorries could be running on clean natural gas instead of dirty diesel in a few years' time, if a trial run shows the fuel is commercially viable. The project is getting underway as the island's first supply of natural gas from Indonesia's West Natuna islands arrives six months ahead of schedule.

The multibillion-dollar pipeline bringing the gas was inaugurated by Prime Minister Goh Chok-tong and Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid. It was Wahid's first visit to Singapore since his criticisms of the city-state in November, when he accused Singaporeans of being contemptuous of Malays, and caring only about profit, not about its neighbors.

Construction of the 640-kilometer gas pipeline between the Natuna islands and Jurong Island started in early 1999 and was expected to be completed in July this year. The first gas reached Jurong last week, and SembCorp Industries (SCI) has started selling it to petrochemical companies on Jurong Island and to power stations.

Under a 22-year contract with Indonesian state-owned oil company Pertamina, the submarine pipeline can bring up to 325 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas to Singapore.

The gas fuel trial, using a fleet of 30 Singapore Bus Service (SBS) buses fitted out to run on compressed natural gas, is expected to start by year-end. The buses will run in the Jurong and Tuas industrial area, and will be monitored for six to nine months.

The Environment Ministry, SBS, DelGro Engineering/Volvo East Asia and SembCorp Industries are backing the pilot project. SembCorp Industries' chief executive officer and deputy chairman Wong Kok Siew said: "If this feasibility study is successful, we will be setting up a network of compressed-natural-gas filling stations to fuel public transport and commercial vehicle fleets in Singapore."

General manager Francis Gomez of SembCorp Gas, a unit of SCI, said: "When you burn gas instead of diesel, you reduce pollution by more than half. It is the future for a clean transportation network." He would not say how much it would cost to retrofit a vehicle to run on natural gas rather than diesel. Nor would he say how much filling up with natural gas would cost. But a report by an international organization says the general cost of natural gas worldwide is 8-30 percent lower than for diesel.

"Although the initial investment of bus operators would be more, the cost over the total life-cycle of the bus would be equal or less," Gomez said.

SembCorp Gas will be setting up its own filling stations later this year. If all goes well with the natural-gas fuel trial, the company will expand its network of filling stations and set up natural-gas depots alongside existing fuel depots for commercial vehicles.

Present customers of SCI's gas include Tuas Power and Power Seraya, which own two of the three power generation plants in Singapore, ExxonMobil and Ellba. SCI has also signed up 25 new customers

in the pharmaceutical, electrical, food, beverage and other industries. Gas will be piped to them from the next quarter. SCI's full quota of gas will be taken up from the first quarter of next year, yielding a revenue flow of US$1 million (S$1.74 million) a day.

SCI is building up its utilities operations as one of its five core businesses. It said recently that it had set aside $500 million over the next three to five years for new projects and facilities. The newly-formed natural gas business is done through SembCorp Gas, which is 50 percent owned by SembCorp Utilities. Temasek Holdings and Tractebel, the energy arm of Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, own the remaining 30 and 20 percent respectively.

SCI deputy chairman and chief executive officer Wong Kok Siew said: "SembCorp Industries has five core businesses and utilities will form a counter-cyclical load base for us. From this, you can see how important natural gas will be in our future plans." The other four core businesses are engineering and construction, waste management, logistics and marine engineering.

The stock market cheered news of the early delivery of natural gas. SCI shares rose six cents to S$1.86 Monday - their highest level in four months.

(Special to Asia Times Online)

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