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Gold/Mining/Energy : Triton Energy Limited (OIL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan P who wrote (4)	5/6/1999 9:46:00 AM
From: John McDonald	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7

Triton to Sign Thai, Malaysian Gas Pacts by June, Official Says Bangkok, May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Triton Energy Ltd. will complete long-awaited natural gas contracts with Thailand and Malaysia in June, clearing the way for development of a $600 million project in the Gulf of Thailand, a Thai official said. Triton agreed last year to sell $5.5 billion of gas over 20 years to Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), Malaysia's national oil company, and its Thai counterpart, Petroleum Authority of Thailand. Squabbles over territory and resource sharing triggered delays. ''We, Petronas, and the seller have already completed all the documents,'' said Piti Yimprasert, president of PTT Gas, the natural gas unit of the Thai energy agency. Approval from Thailand's Industry Ministry ''should come next month by the latest,'' the official said. The bureaucratic delay has frustrated all parties, ''but if you deal with the government, sometimes answers are difficult to get.'' Development of the Cakerawala Field will take about 30 months, so gas sales could begin in late 2001, Triton Chief Executive James Musselman said last month at an energy conference in New Orleans. The field is believed to hold 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Dallas-based Triton, which also has operations in Colombia, last year sold half its stake in the Gulf of Thailand project to Atlantic Richfield Co. to finance development. Thailand and Malaysia held talks on joint energy development in the Gulf of Thailand for two decades before signing a preliminary agreement on commercial gas sales in April 1998. The Petroleum Authority of Thailand and Petronas plan to invest about $800 million in new pipelines over the next several years for their Joint Development Area in the Gulf of Thailand, with about half the funding coming from Japan, Piti said. Each state energy company will receive the yen equivalent of about $200 million of loans this year, he said. Loan terms haven't been set yet. California-based Bechtel Group Inc. will build the pipeline and U.K.-based Kvaerner ASA will advise Thailand on developing a natural gas separation plant.