HAT YAI, Thailand Violent protests over a proposed gas pipeline linking Thailand and Malaysia with an offshore field have caused long and costly delays despite both governments' determination to proceed.

Two thousand villagers clashed with Thai police ahead of an historic joint meeting here Sunday of the Thai and Malaysian cabinets, leaving dozens injured in the latest of a series of angry demonstration over the project.

Thailand's government has repeatedly vowed to override the concerns of residents and environmentalists who say the project will destroy fishing grounds and cause other ecological damage.

But the first stage of the pipeline, originally due to begin operation this year after being constructed at a cost of 1.0 billion dollars, has still not come on line.

Under the scheme managed by Thai oil and gas giant PTT Plc. and Malaysia's national energy firm Petronas, the gas would come ashore at Songkhla province in southern Thailand and be distributed by pipeline to both countries.

Link to mainland

The offshore rig is in place and pipes have been laid from the gas field towards the coast, but the new infrastructure still awaits a link to the mainland.

"Petronas is losing a million ringgit (about 260,000 dollars) a day due to the delays," a Malaysian government official told AFP on the sidelines of the cabinet meeting, at which the pipeline issue was a main topic of discussion.

"The gas is basically to serve the needs of Thailand. Any shift in the original plan will incur a loss of money," he said. "It won't be feasible to locate the on-land project on the Malaysian side."

During a break in the talks Malaysian Minister of Works Samy Vellu said Thai ministers had reassured their Malaysian counterparts that the pipeline construction would proceed.

"They are very keen about the project and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suvit Khunkitti said the project must go on as promised," he said.

Baton-charged

Friday's violence, where demonstrators claimed they were baton-charged by 1,000 police in riot gear, followed a series of stormy public meetings in Songkhla over the pipeline.

At one gathering in October 2000, hundreds of people stormed the meeting and clashed with police, leaving more than 30 people injured.

Nevertheless, the Thai government gave the green light to build the much-delayed gas pipeline in May, after asking PTT to change the landing site.

In November it faced renewed opposition with a highly publicised petition signed by some 1,300 academics asking Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to reconsider his backing of the pipeline.

Their petition pointed out that the project was approved before the completion of an environmental impact study, and over the objections of some 80 percent of local residents.

However, the prime minister dismissed the academics' protests as "nothing new" and vowed to push ahead.

277km-long pipeline

The offshore gas pipeline will be 277 kilometres (172 miles) long and pump gas from the joint development area to Thailand and later to Malaysia.

The onshore pipeline is 87 kilometres (54 miles) long, stretching from the gas separation plant to Kedah state in northern Malaysia.

Officials from a joint development organisation for the project say there could be 25 years of gas in the reserve that straddles the coast off Thailand and Malaysia. AFP