Thailand to announce gas concession winners in February

Thailand’s energy ministry said June 22 that it will announce the winning bids to take over the concessions to operate both the Erawan and Bongkot offshore natural gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand next February.

US oil major Chevron is the operator of the Erawan concession, which will expire in 2022. The Bongkot concession is operated by state-owned PTT Exploration and Production PCL, which will expire in 2023. Combined, the two areas have output of 2.3bn ft³/day, representing just over three-quarters of total output from the Gulf of Thailand.

Veerasak Pungrassamee, director of the energy ministry's mineral fuels department, told media that the terms for the auction will be announced in July or August. However, he did not say when the auctions would be held. Earlier this year, Thai energy minister Anantaporn Kanjanarat said the auctions would be held in December.

Following a peak in 2006, Thailand’s natural gas reserves have generally declined. Natural gas output has declined over the past two years, and in 2016, Thailand produced less than 1.4 trillion ft³ of gas, according to Thai government data. Facing a decline in both reserves and production, Thailand is developing its LNG infrastructure. The country commenced LNG imports at its first regasification terminal, the Map Ta Phut LNG, near Bangkok in 2011.

Tim Daiss