Singapore (Platts)--26Nov2012/1108 pm EST/408 GMT

Commercial startup of the Melaka LNG terminal -- Malaysia's first LNG import facility -- has been pushed back for the second time to the April-June quarter of 2013, according to a statement from Petronas Gas, a subsidiary of state-run Petronas.

There will be no material effect on Petronas Gas' earnings and net assets for the financial year ending December 31, 2012, arising from the later commencement of operations at the LNG regasification terminal, Petronas Gas said Friday in a statement to Bursa Malaysia.

Petronas Gas did not give a reason for the delay and Petronas officials were not available for comment Tuesday.

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The facility achieved mechanical completion in June and was originally slated for startup in August 2012, but this was later delayed to late 2012. Petronas has already lined up LNG supplies for the terminal and was scheduled to start receiving cargoes from GDF Suez from August this year.

The Melaka terminal comprises the world's first regasification unit on an island jetty, two floating storage units and a 3 km (1.86 miles) subsea pipeline connected to a new 30 km onshore pipeline that links to Petronas Gas' existing Peninsular Gas Utilization pipeline network.

The regasification unit has the capacity to receive, store and vaporize up to 3.8 million mt/year of LNG.

Petronas has so far signed two LNG import agreements. The first, signed in May 2011, is with France's GDF Suez for the supply of 2.5 million mt of LNG over 3 1/2 years. The second is with Qatargas for the supply of 1.5 million mt/year of LNG over 20 years, with deliveries to begin in 2013. The company also has a 20-year contract to buy 3.5 million mt/year of LNG from the Santos-led Gladstone LNG project in Australia, in which it holds a 27.5% stake.

Malaysia has traditionally been an LNG exporter, supplying around 23 million mt/year to customers from the Bintulu liquefaction complex in Sarawak, east Malaysia. However, Peninsular Malaysia, which is also known as west Malaysia and is disconnected from the gas fields in the east, is expected to soon face a gas shortage, forcing Petronas to plan LNG import terminals there.

--Mriganka Jaipuriyar, mriganka@platts.com --Edited by Deepa Vijiyasingam, deepa_vijiyasingam@platts.com

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