A liquefied petroleum gas pipeline at a gas separation plant of Trans Thai-Malaysia Ltd (TTM) in Songkhla province has leaked, but not to an extent that caused damages to operation of the plant, according to the company’s executive.

Somchai Kruyai, Senior Executive Vice President of TTM, a joint venture between PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) and Petronas of Malaysia, said the LPG pipeline had not been considerably damaged, but had to be halted for a temporary system test by a contractor.

He said a snake crawled around a high-voltage power transmission line of the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), causing the electrical short-circuit to a land power line and an LPG control system.

However, the incident has not affected the gas separation plant, which is still normal operation.

The TTM-run gas separation plant, which has a capacity of 425 million cubic feet per day, receives gas from the Joint Development Area (JDA) of Thailand and Malaysia.

It has started gas separation process and supply to Malaysia since February 2005.

It is now in a process of testing the LPG separation system, which is expected to a capacity of 166,000 tons per year.

(www.bangkokpost.com)