Thailand's PTT Mulls Buying Stake in Domestic Gas Assets

Thailand's state owned energy company PTT Pcl is mulling buying stake in local energy assets put up for sale by global firms, reported Reuters on Friday.

Chief Executive Officer Tevin Vongvanich said told reporters that this is part of government’s policy to secure long term energy supplies. However, he added that the company will avoid creating a monopoly.

Earlier on Friday, energy minister Anantaporn Kanjanarat said PTT group should consider buying stakes in Arthit gas field from Chevron Corp and Bongkot offshore field from Royal Dutch Shell, Reuters added.

Chevron owns 16 percent of Arthit field, while PTT unit, PTT Exploration and Production Pcl has an 80 percent stake. PTTEP has said it was keen to buy the 22.2 percent stake in Bongkot field and another gas field in Myanmar.

Thailand’s natural gas resources are fast depleting as domestic demand expands. Earlier this year, country’s Department of Mineral Fuels (DMF) stated that natural gas production in Gulf of Thailand should be cut to preserve resources and LNG imports should be increased to meet domestic demand.

DMF said that recent drop in global gas prices has made it very attractive to import LNG as spot prices are now very close to the price of gas produced in Gulf of Thailand.

This month PTT signed two LNG MoUs in Russia. The state owned firm signed memorandums with Gazprom and Novatek. Last month, PTT and KOGAS signed an agreement to cooperate in the LNG value chain.

Thailand’s second LNG terminal with a capacity of 5 mtpa is expected to come online next year. The Map Ta Phut LNG receiving terminal is already operational and also has a capacity of 5 mtpa. PTT has plans to increase this capacity to ten mtpa.