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PTT, Gulf Energy to build Thai LNG terminal
THAILAND
THAILAND’S state-owned PTT has teamed up with Gulf Energy Development to build a THB40.9bn ($1.33bn) LNG import terminal on the country’s east coast.
The project will include the design and con- struction of the port and a 5mn tonne per year LNG terminal that can be expanded to 10.8mn tpy at a later stage, Reuters quoted Gulf Energy as saying on October 1. The project is scheduled to begin commercial operations by 2025.
The project will be developed by Gulf MPT LNG Terminal, a joint venture between Gulf Energy with a 70% stake and PTT with 30%, and will be located in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Park in Rayong City.
The project is “one of five mega infrastruc- ture projects of the Eastern Economic Corridor” (EEC), which will create a “seamless trans- portation network” between Thailand and its neighbours, the newswire quoted Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak as saying.
Thailand approved investment in the EEC in February 2018, with the initiative designed to boost the economic development of the coun- try’s eastern provinces. The EEC, which strad- dles Chonburi, Rayong and Chachoengsao Provinces, spans 13,285 square km.
Bangkok hopes to complete the EEC by 2021, turning these provinces into a hub for techno- logical manufacturing and services. The govern- ment has said the PTT-Gulf Energy partnership will attract investment to the industrial east.
The announcement of the new termi- nal comes less than a month after PTT said it intended to become a regional LNG trader. The company said on September 12 that it wanted to provide small-scale distribution through marine vessels and heavy-duty trucks as well as develop a natural gas pipeline.
The company aims to increase utilisation rates at its two existing LNG import facilities at Rayong City. The 11.5mn tpy facility in Map Ta Phut has a utilisation rate of 5mn tpy, while the 7.5mn tpy facility in Nong Fab is still under construction.
The Bangkok Post quoted PTT’s senior exec- utive vice-president for gas, Wuttikorn Stithit, as saying the company was ready to provide these services after testing the business model over the last few years.
“We are ready in terms of gas infrastructure and transport via marine vessels and heavy duty trucks, as well as manpower for LNG trade,” Wuttikorn said.™
French tech firm lands work at Arctic LNG-2
ASIA
FRENCH LNG tech firm GTT has secured design and construction work at Russia’s Arctic LNG-2 project, it said on September 26.
The company has signed a contract with a joint venture between Italy’s Saipem and Tur- key’s Renaissance Heavy Industries that has been tasked with supplying the LNG plant’s three gravity-based structures (GBS). Two of these structures will contain a pair of 114,500-cubic metre LNG storage tanks and one 980-cubic metre ethane storage tank. The third will have two additional 114,500-cubic metre LNG tanks.
GTT will carry out design, construction studies and technical assistance for these facili- ties using its patented technology. The GBSs will be built at a shipyard in Murmansk before being towed to Arctic LNG-2’s location on the Gydan Peninsula.
GTT, which mainly provides storage solu- tions for LNG carriers, hailed the order as its first GBS project.
“We are very confident in the perspectives of this solution and are looking forward to work- ing on this project with our highly experienced partners in order to accompany them from an early stage,” GTT CEO Philippe Berterottiere
commented.
Saipem and Renaissance’s construction con-
tract at Arctic LNG-2 is worth $2.5bn. The pro- ject was green-lighted by Russia’s Novatek and its international partners last month and is due to start up in 2023. At peak capacity it will export up to 19.8mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG.
Delivering these cargoes will require an expansion in Russia’s LNG tanker fleet, and GTT is eyeing opportunities here as well. It secured approval in principle (AiP) in September from the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RMRS) for deploying its Mark III Flex and NO96 LO3+ storage systems in Arc7 ice-class ships. These vessels are used to transport LNG from Novatek’s Arctic projects to markets in Asia and Europe. GTT said its systems boasted daily boil-off rates of 0.085% and 0.1% respectively.
GTT suffered a 25% dip in profits in the first half of 2019, despite its order intake remaining solid. Net income came to of €56.6mn ($63mn) in the six months ending June 30, down from €75.7mn a year earlier. Revenues fell 3.6% year on year in the sixmonth period to €122.6mn, but were up 8.2% quarter on quarter for April to June.™
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