PTTEP to sign gas deal with Burma

[PeteC]

Great job, no other alternatives available? This basically gives a blessing to their despicable human rights record, and will fatten their coffers to overflowing. When all this money makes them brave and even more belligerent, enabling them to purchase more goodies from North Korea and probably Iran, Thailand will be one neighbor shaking in their boots and asking for outside help. There go my tax dollars again, as China will just turn a blind eye. Pete


PTTEP to sign gas deal with Burma

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews ... th-myanmar

* Published: 29/07/2010 at 01:16 PM
* Online news: Breakingnews

PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP) will on Friday sign an agreement to purchase natural gas from M9 or Zawtika Field with Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the national oil firm of Burma, Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul said on Thursday.

Mr Wannarat said he will visit Burma tomorrow to witness the signing of the deal.

“This is a good news for Thailand as PTTEP has succeeded in finding an overseas energy source to ensure energy security for the country,” the minister said.

The M9 field has an estimated total natural gas reserve of 1.4 trillion cubic meters. MOGE will supply 240 million cubic metres a day to Thailand and another 60 million for domestic sales, according to Mr Wannarat.

Under the 30-year agreement, MOGE will start supplying natural gas to PTTEP in 2013.

He said the gas pact will ensure sufficient natural gas for the production of electricity for domestic use and for vehicles running on natural gas.

The natural gas to be supplied by the Burmese state firm would help reduce imports of bunker oil by about 2.4 billion litres a year and save the country about 400 billion baht annually, he said.

This deal would also lengthen the Trans-Asean gas pipeline from the current 2,800km to 3,020km and help ensure energy security in the Asean region, Mr Wannarat said.

[Nereus]

While I completely agree with you concerning the Human Rights issue, what is the alternative? Both India and China already buy gas from Burma, and about 80% of Thailand`s consumption already comes from there. If Thailand does not buy it, then the others will.

It could be hoped that if the neighbouring countries were to put pressure on the Junta with threats of refusing to deal with them, they might do something about their oppression. But there is not much hope of that happening, given who the neighbors are.

I really believe that the International Community missed out big-time on doing something constructive about the human rights situation following the devastating cyclone a couple of years ago. I had better not write what I had in mind at the time!

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=12963

http://www.dvb.no/news/foreign-investme ... 0%99/10748

[PeteC]

More reliance on Burma

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/eco ... e-on-burma

* Published: 30/07/2010 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: Business

Thailand expects to buy more gas and electricity from Burma in order to secure supplies as domestic resources become depleted, says Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul.

Thailand has been buying gas from Burma since the late 1990s. The Yadana and Yetagun offshore gas fields have an output of 400 and 565 million cubic feet per day (mmscfd) respectively.

In three years Thailand will begin receiving supplies from the new Sawtika Block or M9. PTT Plc, Thailand's sole natural gas seller, will sign a natural gas purchase contract today with Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in Burma's capital city Naypyidaw.

Under the contract, Thailand will receive gas from M9 at a rate of 240 mmscfd, equal to 2.4 billion litres of oil per day, by the end of 2013. Gas from M9 will mainly be used by the transport sector.

The PTT subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production Plc, the production operator of M9, hopes to gain exploration and production rights for Burma's other new petroleum blocks such as M3, M4, M7 and M11.

Mr Wannarat said that if the two countries could agree on a plan, Burmese natural gas would serve demand in Thailand over the next 10 years as petroleum resources in the Gulf of Thailand gradually dwindle. Domestic reserves will last only another 23 years, he estimated.

Pornchai Rujiprapha, the permanent secretary of the Energy Ministry, said Thailand also hoped to buy more hydroelectric power from Burma's Salween River. There is potential to build two hydropower plants on the river: the 1,200-megawatt Hat Gyi Dam and the 7,000-MW Tasang Dam.

In 2006, Sinohydro signed a memorandum of understanding with Burma for the US$1-billion Hat Gyi dam located along the Thai-Burma border. Negotiations over the shareholding structure of the project's developer are expected to conclude in May next year.

Permsak Shevawattananon, PTT's senior executive vice-president for natural gas business, said PTT had to seek more gas reserves due to a projected rise in Thai demand to 4,821 mmscfd in 2014 and 5,542 mmscfd in 2020 from 3,900 at present.

"Demand for gas is rising not only in power and industrial sectors but also in transport so we need to find more resources overseas," said Mr Permsak.

In the future if nuclear- and coal-fired power plants cannot start construction due to community fears over environmental issues, then even more reserves would be needed, he added.