BKK Post, April 11, 1998. MPs claim

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April 11, 1998. MPs claim gas scheme with Malaysia not advantageous
          
Thailand said to be at a disadvantage
 Wut Nontharit Achara Ashayagachat

The House Committee on the Environment has urged the government to 
review a gas pipeline joint-venture project with Malaysia, claiming it 
will put Thailand at a disadvantage.

Democrat MP for Songkhla Prai Pattano, a House panel member, voiced 
strong objection to the project between the Petroleum Authority of 
Thailand (PTT) and Malaysia's state oil firm, Petronas.

He claimed Malaysia stood to benefit from the investment in which the 
two countries would jointly invest in setting up a gas separation plant 
and laying a gas pipeline.

PTT and Petronas recently reached basic agreement to jointly invest in 
the pipeline that will deliver natural gas from their once-disputed 
continental shelves in the South China Sea to the two countries' shores.

The agreement is a further crucial step involved in the development of 
gas fields lying in the Joint Development Area (JDA).

The Trans-Thailand-Malaysia Gas Pipeline system would run from the JDA 
gas fields to the onshore landing point at Songkhla, and continue on to 
the northern Malaysian state of Perlis.

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir 
Mohamad will preside over the signing of the agreement on April 22 in 
Songkhla.

Half of the contractual gas supply would come to Thailand, and the other 
half would supply Malaysia.

But the House committee disagreed with the laying of the gas pipeline on 
Thai soil, saying it would affect forest resources.

The panel proposed that each country separately set up its own gas 
separation plant and lay a pipeline.

However, the PTT said it had no budget to invest in the costly project 
alone and that it had to invite Petronas to co-invest in it.

Chianchuang Kanalayanamitr, an adviser to the House committee, said the 
project would give Malaysia an advantage over Thailand because the 
pipeline route would pass the industrial zone of Malaysia.

"Malaysia will stand to benefit from the laying of the pipeline. There 
is a possibility that it will use cheap gas to produce electricity to 
supply its industrial zone. By then, many foreign investors will flock 
to Malaysia where basic utilities are cheap. Thailand will not become 
competitive with Malaysia," he noted.

The panel has also asked the government to hold a public referendum on 
the impact of the project on the environment and the community.

Mr Chuan told reporters the project was still in its early stage and a 
lot more steps would be taken before the gas actually came online.

He dismissed concerns that the project would lead to a similar problem 
currently faced by the Thai-Burmese gas pipeline.

Prawase Wasi, a reform advocate, said the Thai-Burmese gas pipeline 
dispute should serve as a good lesson for the government.

The government should not be allowed to repeat the mistake and the 
public should be fully informed about the project, said Dr Prawase.

Meanwhile, Thai-Malaysian cooperation in human resources development 
will be discussed when the prime ministers of the two countries meet, a 
Foreign Ministry source said yesterday.

The discussion will take place after the signing of an agreement to 
purchase natural gas from the JDA, the source said.

Malaysia is expected to offer Thailand training programmes and 
scholarships for developing human resources to serve downstream 
industries related to the JDA, the source added.

Mr Chuan will fly to Songkhla to witness the signing of an initial 
agreement to buy natural gas between the three parties concerned - the 
Thai-Malaysian joint body, which is the seller; Triton Oil, Petronas 
Carigali, and PTT Exploration and Production, the operators; and 
Petronas and the PTT, the buyers.

Mr Mahathir, who wil also preside over the signing ceremony, is expected 
to discuss prospects to be brought about by the JDA, including 
downstream industries and the need to develop human resources, the 
source said.

The agreement to buy natural gas from the JDA in the Gulf of Thailand 
was proof of bilateral cooperation between Malaysia and Thailand crafted 
out of former territorial disputes, the source added.

The 7,250-square-kilometre JDA, about 180km from Pattani and 150km from 
Kota Baru in Malaysia's Kelantan state, was agreed on by the two 
governments in 1979, and the development and joint management of the 
area will last 30 years.

Production of the estimated 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas is 
expected to start in 2001.

The discovery of gas deposits was not only a breakthrough for industrial 
development in the south of Thailand and the northern part of Malaysia, 
but also for cooperation under the framework of the 
Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), the source said.

On the social front, as tensions and conflicts in southern Thailand have 
been eased, development in the JDA would further require cooperation of 
the two countries in areas of training and human resources development 
to serve the upcoming downstream industries, he said.

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