Indonesian gas supply to Singapore not yet at normal levels -regulator

JAKARTA, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Natural gas supply to Singapore from Indonesia has not fully recovered from disruptions in July, an official at Singaporean oil and gas regulator SKK Migas told Reuters.

The city state's Energy Market Authority last week said disruptions in supply from Indonesia's gas fields in Natuna had contributed to a spike in its spot electricity prices.

"Gas distribution in September has started to improve, compared to July when there was production disruption, but it hasn't returned to normal as it was at the beginning of this year," Julius Wiratno, deputy of operation at SKK Migas said.

"This is due to decreasing gas production rate in one of the fields."

"We are working... to restore the well's performance and hopefully in November, West Natuna Transportation System producers will be able to supply gas in accordance to Singapore’s demand," Wiratno said.

Wiratno said at the moment, gas distribution is averaging 305 billion British thermal units per day.

The July disruptions were blamed mainly on an unplanned shutdown at the Anoa field and planned maintenance at the Gajah Baru field, both located in Natuna.

Production in Natuna is down 27.5% from its previous peak to 370 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD), SKK Migas spokesman Rinto Pudyantoro said.

Output from Sumatra is around 360 MMSCFD versus a plateau in 2018 at 420 MMSCFD, Pudyantoro said. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; writing by Fathin Ungku; editing by Jason Neely)