Thai PTTEP Sets 2017 Budget at $2.9bn

Thai PTTEP has announced its 2017 budget will be $2.9bn. Out of the total, $1.64bn will be capital expenditure and the remaining $1.26bn will be operating expenditure, PTTEP said January 10. Investments in existing projects located in Thailand and southeast Asia, the company’s strategic investment locations, account for 88% of total planned capital expenditure.

Projects in Thailand account for 64% of PTTEP’s estimated capital expenditure in 2017. Key activity is to maintain the production level of the existing projects, which primarily include the Arthit project, the S1 project, the Bongkot project, the Contract 4 project and the MTJDA project.

Projects in other southeast Asia countries account for 24% of the company’s estimated capital expenditure in 2017. Major activities in this region are mainly in producing Myanmar assets which include maintaining production level of the Zawtika project and the Yadana project, as well as in exploration project activities for the Myanmar MOGE 3 project and the Myanmar M11 project.

Projects in other regions which comprise Australia, Africa, and North and South America, account for 12% of PTTEP’s estimated capital expenditures in 2017. Major expenditures go towards operational activities in the PTTEP Australasia project and the pre-development of the Mozambique Rovuma Offshore Area 1 project.

The estimated exploration expenditure for the company in 2017 is $138mn, which mostly will be used for seismic acquisition, geological and geophysical studies, and drilling and appraisal activities.

PTTEP has set its investment budget for the next five years (2017-2021) totaling $14.95bn. The budget takes into account the recent oil price recovery at the end of 2016, and also includes the development expenditures of pre-development projects, namely the Contract 4 (Ubon) project, the Mozambique Rovuma Offshore Area 1 project and the Algeria Hassi Bir Rekaiz project.

Shardul Sharma