Guided by the tenets of government strategy, the Department is diligently collaborating with all key stakeholders aiming to expedite the progress on the much-anticipated Thai-Cambodian collective development region. This information comes courtesy of the department’s deputy CEO, Supalak Parn-anurak.
The central focus remains intensifying the natural gas extraction from Erawan gas field, formerly labelled G1/61. By the time we hit the 1st of December this year, it’s envisaged that the everyday production will experience a substantial increase to 600 million cubic feet from an existing 400 million cubic feet. There’s a slight hiccup however; the operator, PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP), recently expressed a certain level of difficulty in achieving these lofty production targets.
Several factors are contributing to the delay in production. Among the main culprits is an issue with the crane on the K1 vessel which is integral to the installation of the production platform. With a new vessel on the shopping list, an unavoidable delay of at least two months has been anticipated. Despite this bump on the road, the firm retains utmost confidence in their ability to ramp up gas production as per the agreed upon contract, aiming at 800 million cubic feet per day by the 1st of April, 2024.
In an effort to tackle these challenges head-on, the Department of Mineral Fuels is crafting solutions hand-in-hand with all concerned stakeholders. PTT has made strides towards increased natural gas extraction at the G2/61 or Bongkot field, raising the daily output by an extra 130 million cubic feet. The result is a steadfast maintenance of its contracted production of 700 million cubic feet, experiencing zero reduction. Furthermore, production at the Arthit gas field has also seen an increase, by an extra 60 million cubic feet each day.
Additional coordination efforts are in progress with Yadana located in Myanmar, aiming to preserve the production capacity of 350 million cubic feet per day over a prolonged duration. Thailand has also entered into negotiations with Malaysia to tap into natural gas from jointly developed locations in Thailand should Malaysia find no need for it. This prudent management of natural gas sources and pipelines is an effective alternative to importing Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), which consequently contributes to containing electricty production costs.
About the Thai-Cambodian overlapping region, the Department stands ready to join forces with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to advance the required legislation. Projecting into the future, if everything falls neatly into place, natural gas extraction from this region would commence in no less than a decade. This would entail a long-term benefit for both nations through the unique opportunity to capitalize on petroleum resources, subsequently reducing the cost of living for the Thai populace.
In recent years, natural gas reserves found in the Gulf of Thailand have been on a steady decline, leaving Thailand only able to produce a meagre 50% of their needs, a drastic reduction from 70% in the preceding years. As a result, the reliance on higher-priced LNG imports has inevitably led to a spike in electricity production costs across Thailand.
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