Thailand to Invite Bids for Oil, Gas Concessions

Thailand has announced plans to invite bids on 22 new oil and gas concessions, The Nation reported Friday.

The 21st round of concessions is likely to be proposed to the petroleum committee for approval next month. After their consideration it will be forwarded to the Energy Minister for approval and the bidding may open by midyear.

Of the 22 petroleum fields on offer, 11 are in the Northeast, six in the North and Central regions, and five in the Gulf of Thailand. The offshore fields will be more than 100 kilometres away from the coast so as to avoid any disputes with the small fishing industry. The total area of the concessions both on and offshore is about 46,000 square kilometres.

The department expects these new fields will uncover 3 trillion to 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and about 5 million to 10 million barrels of crude oil.

To date, the Mineral Fuels Depart-ment has granted 63 concessions that are under operation, and 79 petroleum fields under exploration. These include 40 fields on land, 36 in the Gulf of Thailand and three in the Andaman Sea.