Indonesia has cut natural gas exports to Singapore, escalating a row over the haze from its wildfires.
The cut began on Saturday and totals 31 million standard cubic feet a day, with 15 million from the Natuna field in the Riau Islands and 16 million from Sumatra, the head of the state agency that supervises the oil and gas sector said in a statement.
Djoko Siswanto of SKK Migas said the move was made "to maintain the reliability of domestic gas supply for electricity”, according to AFP.
"We will continue to monitor developments on a daily basis," he said. Only Singapore is affected for now.
Singapore's Energy Market Authority said the reduction is less than two per cent of the city-state's total daily gas demand and that it has contingency plans in place.
"EMA understands that our importers will pursue all relevant recourse in their contracts for the gas supply disruption," it said in a statement to AFP.
The cut follows a week of warnings from Jakarta.
Indonesia's energy minister, Bahlil Lahadalia, said on Thursday that Indonesia could stop supplying countries that do not respect it, at the opening of gas facilities off East Kalimantan, according to Eco-Business.
"I will carry out an evaluation, and I will not hesitate to consider halting exports to countries that disrespect Indonesia," he said.
"The direction is clear: our natural resources will be used for domestic needs first. This is survival mode." He did not name any country.
The day before, president Prabowo Subianto ordered police, prosecutors, and the forestry ministry to investigate the companies behind the fires, and rebuked critics abroad.
"For certain countries that like to insult the Indonesian nation, in time we will reveal the companies," Mr Prabowo told local media.
Singapore has served legal notices under its haze law on 10 Indonesian companies it suspects of contributing to the fires, and has promised legal action against those responsible. Its stock exchange has also questioned seven listed agricultural companies about possible links to the fires.
Singapore relies on gas for about 95 per cent of its electricity and imports Indonesian gas mainly by pipeline under contracts that expire at the end of 2028, according to Singapore's trade ministry.
Liquefied natural gas made up more than half of its gas imports in 2024, and a second terminal for it is being built. Indonesia supplied 145.3 billion cubic feet to Singapore in 2024, according to US Energy Information Administration data.
The fires have consumed more than 1.9 million hectares in the nine months to September, according to the deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas. More than 333,470 people have suffered acute respiratory illnesses across seven Indonesian provinces since mid-August, according to the health ministry.
The haze has also reached Malaysia and East Timor, and the ASEAN regional bloc has called a meeting over the crisis.
Malaysia's environment minister Arthur Joseph Kurup said his country reserved the right to demand effective action from Indonesia and would raise the haze at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Manila.
Anger has spread on both sides of the border. Thousands of students have protested across Indonesia over the government's response, including more than 500 outside the central Kalimantan governor's office on Friday, demanding a national disaster declaration.
In Malaysia, some consumers have begun boycotting Indonesian goods after Indonesia's government communications chief Syahganda Nainggolan said the oxygen in Singapore and Malaysia comes from Indonesia's forests, the Straits Times reported.
