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PTT seeks Middle Eastern partners
THAILAND
THAILAND’S state-run PTT is in talks with Middle Eastern oil and gas producers to help meet the Southeast Asian country’s growing oil and gas demand, company CEO Chansin Treenuchagron has said.
The executive told Bloomberg Television on August 29 that the talks could see PTT finalise partnerships within the next few years.
“We need crude and we maybe need explo- ration in some countries in the Middle East,” Chansin said. “Because we need supply for Thai- landandAsianmarkets.”
Chansin did say whom PTT was in talks with, but added that any partnership would have to be in line with PTT’s vision.
Thailand’s crude and condensate production slid 0.3% year on year in 2018 to 485,000 barrels per day of in 2018, according to BP’s Statistical Review of world Energy 2019, while consump- tion climbed 1.3% to 1.48mn bpd. The Middle East supplies around 60% of the country’s oil imports.
This is not the first time that Chansin has talked about deepening his company’s energy ties with the Middle East. Speaking on the side- lines of the Asia Oil and Gas Conference in June, Chansin told Reuters his company might sell its non-Middle Eastern assets after its recent acqui- sition of Partex Holding in order to focus on the region.
PTT’s upstream arm, PTT Exploration and Production (PPTEP), had announced earlier that month that it had paid $622mn for a 100% stake in Partex, which in turn held a 2% stake
in state-run Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). The Oman government owns 60% of PDO, while Royal Dutch Shell holds 34% and Total has the remaining 4%. The company said at the time that the acquisition paved the way for future investment opportunities in the Middle East. Partex produces 16,000 barrels of oil equiv- alent per day (boepd) from assets in Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kazakhstan.
In terms of PTT’s plans closer to home, Chan- sin said the company was preparing for a struc- turalshiftawayfromcrudeoilandwasinvesting in natural gas production and power generation. “we aim to be the center of gas in this region,” he said.
A day after his comments, PTT announced that it had been picked to develop a gas-fired power plant in Myanmar’s New Yangon City. The president and CEO of PTT unit Global Power Synergy Co. (GPSC), Chawalit Tippawanich, said New Yangon Development Co. (NYDC) had awarded the contract.
“For the later steps, the PTT Group will further discuss the details and talk with GAIL (India), which won the contract for sourcing nat- ural gas for the development of the New Yangon project. PTT will require the natural gas supplied by GAIL for the development of the project,” Chawalit said.
“It is too early to disclose details of the project as discussions between all parties are pending. The production of electricity must take into account the demand for electricity in the area, both in household and industrial sectors.”
Week 36 10•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P7
