Indonesia gas cuts: No rhetoric, no outcry as Singapore rolls out energy partnerships and sets out resilience plans

Over the weekend, Indonesia began cutting piped natural gas exports to Singapore by a total of 17 million British thermal units per day (BBTUD), citing a need to prioritise domestic demand.

Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia also said on Oct 22 that he is similarly prepared to evaluate energy exports with other countries deemed "uncooperative and disrespectful".

While it is anyone's guess whether actions and remarks are coincidental, any expectation of a strong response by Singapore was instead met — not by words — but a series of actions and assurances.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore was first to reassure residents and businesses.

In a statement on Oct 24, it said that the reduction amounts to less than 2 per cent of Singapore's total daily gas demand .

The authority added that there are contingency plans in place to deal with such reductions, pointing to reductions of between 20 BBTUD to 100 BBTUD owing to planned or urgent maintenance in recent months.

These reductions were replaced with other gas sources without incident, EMA said.

In his speech at the People's Action Party's convention on Oct 25, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was straightforward in addressing the matter, pointing out that piped gas supplies are covered by commercial contracts, and that Singapore expects all parties to honour their commitments.

"Singapore’s gas importer will take the necessary steps to protect its rights and interests under these contracts," he said.

The prime minister went on to set out how Singapore has been preparing for such risks through source diversification .

"We invested in liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to import natural gas from different countries, without having to rely on pipelines. This gives us more options to manage any disruptions to our gas supply."

Speaking to the media after the convention, Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng had this message for Singaporeans: "I would like to urge all of our fellow Singaporeans, keep calm and carry on .

"We have dealt seamlessly with such reductions in the past without any incident, and the Government will continue to ensure the reliability and the resilience of Singapore's energy supply."

Building energy partnerships

That quiet confidence came to light on Monday morning at the Singapore Energy Lecture delivered by Dr Tan.

In his speech, Dr Tan set out the five 'Cs' of the country's energy transition: confidence, competitiveness, carbon, connectivity and cost.

"We must ensure our system resilience continues to be a source of confidence, harness energy to bolster our competitiveness, pursue low-carbon energy pathways, and deepen connectivity with our partners. All of this must happen contemporaneously while keeping costs in check," he explained.

Turning to energy and how it is existential for Singapore, Dr Tan pointed to the disruptions arising from the Middle East conflict as a reminder of why the Republic has established multiple lines of defence to give itself the ability to mitigate the impact of disruptions and ensure adequate energy supplies across a wide range of scenarios.

He set out how Singapore's diversification led to about half its LNG imports coming from a global diversified portfolio of sources, such as the US, the Middle East and Australia.

And when the second LNG terminal comes online by 2030, Singapore's LNG throughput capacity will increase by 50 per cent.

The country's central gas aggregator, Singapore GasCo, has also launched a request for proposal to procure gas for Singapore's longer-term needs post-2028.

Then, there are the partnerships, such as the renewal of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in LNG and low-carbo technology with QatarEnergy, and another agreement with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company on a joint energy taskforce.

These were inked during PM Wong's visit to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar from Oct 18 to 22 .

Singapore and Saudi Arabia are also working towards storing Saudi crude at the Jurong Rock Caverns from the second half of 2027.

Renewable energy sources are also in focus with Causeway neighbours Singapore and Malaysia renewing a MOU that covers planning and reliability of electricity and piped gas systems, regulation of wholesale and retail electricity markets, implementation of cross-border electricity trading projects, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), and interconnection capacity.

They will also look to strengthen collaboration on solar and energy storage systems .

Meanwhile, Singapore's energy regulator also announced at the Singapore International Energy Week that it has granted conditional approval to Sembcorp Utilities to import 1.3 gigawatt of electricity to Singapore.

Sembcorp Utilities is working with its consortium partners — MY Energy Consortium, Petronas, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, and Petrovietnam Technical Services Corporation — to source and integrate low-carbon electricity from regional and domestic resources.

This includes offshore wind from Vietnam and solar power from Malaysia.

Securing next chapter of Singapore's energy story

Going beyond the near-term, Singapore also announced that it has appointed a team of experts to study the feasibility of deploying next-generation geothermal power plants in Singapore .

This follows a 2025 non-invasive geophysical survey, which found that Singapore has high-temperature geothermal resources at depths of several kilometres underground, which may be suitable for electricity generation.

Its technical potential of geothermal energy for power generation is more than 60 times of the country's annual electricity consumption of around 60 terawatt-hours (TWh).

In May, Singapore also announced that it will undertake the International Atomic Energy Agency's Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) mission in 2027 to independently assess its capabilities across key areas such as nuclear safety, radioactive waste management, and emergency planning.

In preparation for the review mission, Singapore also announced a new Nuclear Manpower Development Programme for the public sector, and launched a National University of Singapore-Nanyang Technological University joint master's programme in nuclear engineering.

Meanwhile, EMA has also released a five-year energy infrastructure plan, which will showcase how Singapore is expanding its power system to meet new electricity demand, including the operationalisation of five new power plants between 2026 and 2031 .

According to the energy and industry minister, this is the most significant build-up of Singapore's energy infrastructure in decades.

The several announcements made on Monday have been years in the making, and are not reactions to rhetoric or actions.

In assuring households and businesses here to "keep calm and carry on", Dr Tan said of Singapore's approach to securing its energy resilience: "We cannot predict every disruption, but we will always ensure that Singapore is prepared for them.

"This means by preparing well ahead of time, we can face any change in circumstances with calm and confidence."

上周末，印尼开始削减对新加坡的管道天然气出口，每天减少 1700 万英热单位（BBTUD），理由是需要优先满足国内需求。

印尼能源和矿产资源部长巴赫利尔·拉哈达利亚 (Bahlil Lahadalia) 也于 10 月 22 日表示，他也准备对其他被认为“不合作、不尊重”的国家进行类似的能源出口评估。

虽然谁也无法确定这些行动和言论是否是巧合，但新加坡方面并没有做出强有力的回应，而是通过一系列行动和保证，而不是言语，满足了人们的期望。

新加坡能源市场管理局（EMA）率先向居民和企业保证安全。

该公司在 10 月 24 日的一份声明中表示，此次减量相当于新加坡每日天然气总需求的不到 2%。

该机构补充说，他们已制定应急计划来应对此类减少，并指出，由于近几个月来计划内或紧急维护，日供减少了 2000 万至 1 亿班。

欧洲药品管理局表示，这些减产措施已通过其他天然气来源得到替代，且未发生任何事故。

10月25日，总理黄循财在人民行动党大会上发表讲话，直言不讳地指出管道燃气供应受商业合同约束，新加坡希望各方履行其承诺。

他说：“新加坡天然气进口商将采取必要措施，保护其在这些合同下的权利和利益。”

总理接着阐述了新加坡如何通过来源多元化来应对此类风险。

“我们投资建设了液化天然气（LNG）接收站，以便从不同国家进口天然气，而无需依赖管道。这使我们有更多选择来应对天然气供应中断的情况。”

大会结束后，能源、贸易和工业部长（能源和工业）陈思龙在接受媒体采访时向新加坡人传达了以下信息：“我想敦促所有新加坡同胞保持冷静，继续前进。”

“过去我们曾顺利应对过此类减产，未发生任何事故，政府将继续确保新加坡能源供应的可靠性和韧性。”

构建能源伙伴关系

周一上午，陈博士在新加坡能源讲座上展现了这种沉稳的自信。

陈博士在演讲中提出了国家能源转型的五个“C”：信心、竞争力、碳排放、互联互通和成本。

他解释说：“我们必须确保系统韧性继续成为信心的来源，利用能源增强竞争力，探索低碳能源发展路径，并深化与合作伙伴的联系。所有这些都必须同时进行，同时还要控制成本。”

谈到能源及其对新加坡的生存意义时，陈博士指出，中东冲突造成的破坏提醒人们，为什么新加坡建立了多道防线，使自己能够减轻破坏的影响，并确保在各种情况下都有充足的能源供应。

他阐述了新加坡的多元化战略如何使其大约一半的液化天然气进口来自全球多元化的来源，例如美国、中东和澳大利亚。

到 2030 年，当第二个液化天然气接收站投入运营时，新加坡的液化天然气吞吐能力将增加 50%。

新加坡中央天然气聚合商新加坡天然气公司也已启动招标程序，以采购新加坡 2028 年后的长期天然气需求。

此外，还有合作伙伴关系，例如与卡塔尔能源公司续签液化天然气和低碳技术谅解备忘录，以及与阿布扎比国家石油公司就联合能源工作组达成另一项协议。

这些文件是在黄之锋总理10月18日至22日访问阿拉伯联合酋长国和卡塔尔期间签署的。

新加坡和沙特阿拉伯也正在努力从 2027 年下半年开始在裕廊岩洞储存沙特原油。

可再生能源也成为关注焦点，新加坡和马来西亚这两个与新柔长堤相邻的邻国续签了一份谅解备忘录，内容涵盖电力和管道燃气系统的规划和可靠性、批发和零售电力市场的监管、跨境电力交易项目的实施、可再生能源证书（REC）以及互联容量。

他们还将寻求加强在太阳能和储能系统方面的合作。

与此同时，新加坡能源监管机构在新加坡国际能源周上宣布，已向胜科公用事业公司有条件批准其向新加坡进口 1.3 吉瓦电力。

胜科公用事业公司正与其联盟伙伴——马来西亚能源联盟、马来西亚国家石油公司、马来西亚国家能源有限公司和越南石油技术服务公司——合作，从区域和国内资源中获取和整合低碳电力。

这包括来自越南的海上风电和来自马来西亚的太阳能发电。

开启新加坡能源故事的下一个篇章

着眼于短期发展，新加坡还宣布已任命一个专家团队研究在新加坡部署下一代地热发电厂的可行性。

此前，新加坡在 2025 年进行了一项非侵入性地球物理调查，结果发现新加坡地下数公里深处蕴藏着高温地热资源，可能适合用于发电。

其地热能发电的技术潜力是该国年用电量（约 60 太瓦时）的 60 多倍。

今年 5 月，新加坡还宣布将于 2027 年接受国际原子能机构的综合核基础设施审查 (INIR) 任务，以独立评估其在核安全、放射性废物管理和应急计划等关键领域的能力。

为迎接此次审查任务，新加坡还宣布了一项面向公共部门的新的核能人才发展计划，并启动了新加坡国立大学与南洋理工大学联合开设的核工程硕士课程。

与此同时，能源市场管理局 (EMA) 还发布了一项五年能源基础设施计划，该计划将展示新加坡如何扩大其电力系统以满足新的电力需求，包括在 2026 年至 2031 年间投入运营五座新的发电厂。

据能源及工业部长称，这是新加坡几十年来规模最大的能源基础设施建设。

周一发布的几项公告都是多年酝酿的结果，并非对某些言论或行动的回应。

陈医生在向新加坡的家庭和企业保证“保持冷静，继续前行”时，谈到新加坡保障能源韧性的方法时说：“我们无法预测每一次中断，但我们将始终确保新加坡做好准备应对它们。”

“这意味着，通过提前做好充分准备，我们可以冷静自信地面对任何情况变化。”