Thai PTT 3Q Profit Falls, on Canada Impairment

Thailand’s state-owned energy company PTT reported a net profit of bhat 22.33bn ($675mn) for the quarter that ended September 30, 2017, down 17.2% on year due to an impairment charge made on its Canadian oil sands asset and lower domestic gas sales volumes, it said November 13.

In Q3, PTT’s upstream arm, PTTEP, recorded an impairment loss on assets of the Mariana Oil Sands project in Canada amounting to baht 18.5bn ($559mn).

Furthermore, PTT’s Gas Separation Plant (GSP) business had lower performance mainly from the drop in sales volume due to planned maintenance shutdown in this period.

During the 9M of 2017 net profit was baht 99.8bn ($3bn), up 32.2% year on year.

PTT has project an annual gas demand growth rate of 2.3% till 2021 primarily from the power sector. To meet the demand for gas, the company is working on enhancing the LNG import infrastructure. It expects the expansion process of its Map Ta Phut LNG import terminal to be complete by 2019; the terminal’s capacity will rise from 10mn mt/yr to 11.5mn mt/yr.

Also, PTT will be investing in a new LNG terminal and will also sign more long term contracts. At present, it has long term contracts with Qatargas, Shell, BP, and Petronas.

Shardul Sharma