LNG

Thailand’s state-run energy firm, Public Company Exploration and Production (PTTEP), has awarded US engineers McDermott a sizeable contract for transportation, installation and commissioning of a project offshore the state of Sabah in east Malaysia.

Thailand’s new Nong Fab LNG regasification terminal in Rayong province, the nation’s second import facility, has received first volumes of LNG for commissioning and is on track for full commercial start-up in 2022.

PTT Group, the national energy company of Thailand, is behind the Nong Fab project.

PTT is expanding regasification capacity and LNG imports after completing several expansions at the single existing Thai import terminal at Map Ta Phut, which can now handle 11.5 million tonnes per annum.

The Nong Fab terminal is adjacent to the Map Ta Phut industrial area in Rayong and will have total regasification capacity of 7.5 MTPA.

Thailand has opted for the more permanent onshore LNG terminals rather that a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), seen mainly as a fast-track energy solution.

The new terminal is currently being completed by Italian energy engineering firm, Saipem, and Taiwan-based CTCI Corp.

Saipem and CTCI were awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the facility four years ago and with an estimated cost of around $900 million.

Experienced

It was Milan-based Saipem who announced the first volumes of LNG being introduced into the Nong Fab facility. The company is one of the world's most experienced LNG engineering firms with expertise in subsea, liquefaction and regasification projects.

“Saipem is pleased to inform that on 18 June the Nong Fab LNG regasification terminal, located in the Mueang Rayong district in Thailand and executed by Saipem in a joint venture with its partner CTCI, began offloading the first LNG from a carrier moored at the terminal jetty,” said the Saipem statement.

Saipem added that the scope of the work for the project, which began in July 2018, included two 250,000 cubic metres capacity LNG storage tanks, the regasification and pipeline eqipment and a six-kilometre trestle unloading facility as well as an administrative building.

“It is a particularly significant project which is marked by its tank capacity (the largest ever executed in Thailand) and by the world’s largest trestle in the LNG sector,” explained Saipem.

“The offloading of the first LNG was achieved thanks to the expertise, quality and efforts of Saipem’s team in Thailand as well as the strong support of the client, PTT LNG,” the company added.

Saipem stated that full commissioning and start-up were expected before year-end and would provide the country with a stable and reliable energy supply in response to increasing power demand in Thailand.

“The project, confirms Saipem’s role in the LNG and regasification sectors, thanks to its long-standing expertise in complex projects, which are always executed applying the highest safety standards,” Saipem declared.

Japanese LNG industry participants, export plant operator Inpex Corp. and engineering company JGC Holdings are teaming up with the Thai national energy provider, which has increasing natural gas and LNG stakes, to develop a carbon-capture and storage (CCS) project in Thailand.

Thailand’s Public Company Exploration and Production (PTTEP) has stakes in Malaysian floating LNG as well as in Mozambique LNG and is taking over the operatorship of the main natural gas field in neighbouring Myanmar.

While all three companies are heavily involved in the energy transition on fuels in their promotion of LNG and pipeline gas, with Inpex operating the Ichthys LNG plant near Darwin in Australia and JGC being a builder of LNG plants and terminals, they are now exploring Southeast Asian CCS prospects.

They said the potential development of the CCS project in Thailand would help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and accelerate the decarbonization of Thai industries and the country as a whole.

Studies and solutions

Inpex, JGC and PTTEP have now signed an accord on the Thailand Carbon-Capture and Storage Initiative, which aims to study the potential development of CCS solutions to help industries including the oil and gas sector, hard-to-abate industries and power generation reduce their carbon-dioxide emissions.

CCS involves capturing CO2 from industrial processes before it enters the atmosphere and transporting the CO2 for underground storage in geological formations where they will be appropriately managed and monitored.

“The collaboration will involve identifying and evaluating facilities as well as procedures and technologies concerning CCS to build economically viable CCS solutions for Thailand,” said a statement.

PTTEP said the initiative reflected its determination to take part in regional efforts to manage and mitigate GHG impacts.

“We have the potential to help industries and Thailand reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality goals,” the Thai company added.

Reforms

Inpex said it was proactively engaging in energy structure reforms towards the realization of a net-zero carbon society by 2050 while responding to the energy demands of Japan and other countries.

“The company aims to create clean energy business opportunities centred on CCS in Thailand with a view to expanding these opportunities to other parts of Asia,” said Inpex, whose headquarters are in Minato City in Tokyo.

JGC, based in Yokohama, noted that among the three it had “a rich track record” of building CCS facilities not only in Japan, but also in Algeria and Australia.

“The company also provides technical consulting services with energy and environmental themes, combining various methods such as surveys, analysis and evaluation, simulation, and risk assessment, and contributing to the realization of CCS through the provision of a wide range of solutions,” it explained.

This Japanese corporate collaboration on the Thailand CCS initiative is linked to the Asia Energy Transition Initiative (AETI), a plan unveiled by the Government of Japan in 2021 that aims to help achieve sustainable economic growth and carbon neutrality in Asia through energy transitions. 

One of the oldest registered companies in Thailand is making progress on developing its liquefied natural gas business with more imports while expanding its power business domestically and in Southeast Asia and elsewhere as earnings were hit by the rising natural gas price.

Thailand’s state-run exploration and production company PTTEP, which has stakes in Malaysian floating LNG and a Mozambican LNG project, reported almost 40 percent of growth in earnings in the first nine months due to higher natural gas output and prices.

PTT Group, the national energy company of Thailand, has started a joint venture with Tokyo Gas to help with fuel switching in the southeast Asian nation, including small-scale truck deliveries of liquefied natural gas.

Jan 27 (LNG) - Thailand’s national energy company PTT has been given the go-ahead by the Energy Regulatory Commission for some limited LNG re-exports and trading from the Map Ta Phut import terminal in Rayong province. The initial plans for 2020 had been postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Map Ta Phut terminal is the sole facility in the southeast Asian nation and has storage capacity of 11.5 million tonnes. PTT will complete additional storage of 7.5 MTPA  by 2022 as more Thai energy and power companies prepare to enter the LNG business under deregulation.

Thai utility operator, B.Grimm Power Public Company, said it signed an accord with the Provincial Electricity Authority and its subsidiary on technical and financial cooperation in and around Map Ta Phut in Rayong province, the location of the southeast Asian nation’s LNG import terminal where two expansions are planned.

PTTEP of Thailand, the oil and natural gas producer, has reduced its spending plans for the rest of 2020, though would remain on track with key investments in projects such as Mozambique LNG and development of the company’s largest ever southeast Asian natural gas discovery in the Lang Lebah field offshore Sarawak.

PTTEP, whose official name is Exploration and Production Public Company Ltd, noted in its latest newsletter to shareholders that it had adjusted investment plans to cope with the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic that suppressed domestic energy demand.

PTTEP said its 2020 expenditure has been reduced by 15-20 percent with some exploration activities deferred, while maintaining reasonable capital expenditure levels to ensure the continuity of the energy supply of the country.

In the LNG sector, PTTEP has an 8.5 percent stake in the Area 1 licence of the Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique in southeast Africa.

Part of the overall stake, about 26 percent, was transferred to French major Total from Anadarko Petroleum of the US as a side-deal to the Occidental Petroleum takeover in 2019 of Anadarko.

PTTEP in 2019 also made a Malaysian acquisition from Murphy Oil of the US, including a large stake in the Rotan natural gas discovery offshore Malaysia, which is subject to a floating LNG joint venture.

“PTTEP will continue with investment in development projects such as Mozambique Area 1 and additional drilling activity in the Malaysian Lang Lebah gas field in Block Sarawak SK410B, to ensure the first production of these projects in the next four years as planned,” stated the Thai company.

PTTEP’s Lang Lebah gas field is the largest commercial discovery of petroleum resources it has ever made in what was its first exploration well at the Sarawak SK410B Project just over a year ago.

The natural gas discovery at Lang Lebah-1RDR2 encountered 252 metres of net gas pay and has an estimated several trillion cubic feet of gas in place.

The SK410B project is located in shallow waters about 90 kilometres offshore Sarawak in PTTEP acreage of around 1,870 square kilometres.

PTTEP in its post Covid-19 and oil crisis review revised downwards its overall estimated sales volume in 2020 to 362,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a decrease of 7 percent overall from the previous target.

However, the company said it was staying on track with its current investments and was also ready to spend on expansion.

“After the oil price crisis, PTTEP is ready for investment opportunities as we follow our strategic expansion plans that emphasize Southeast Asia where we have built expertise and experience and in the Middle East,” said the company.

PTTEP said it had expanded investment in Thailand, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman for short and long-term gains as well as acquired projects that immediately generate income.

The company was also prepared for digital transformation through investment in new businesses that will enhance technical performance.

“Through these strategies, we aim to achieve solid growth and maintain Thailand’s energy security in the long term,” said the company.

The PTTEP update also included a mention of the company’s celebration of its 35th anniversary.

A ceremony was held at PTTEP headquarters in Bangkok to mark its founding in 1985 with the mission as a state-owned petroleum exploration and production enterprise to strengthen national energy security.

The event was attended by senior board members and executives.

They were led by Prajya Phinyawat, Chairman and Head of the Independent Directors Committee of PTTEP, Tongchat Hongladaromp, Advisor to the Board and former PTTEP President, as well as Phongsthorn Thavisin, the current President and Chief Executive.

The oldest industrial conglomerate in Thailand, the B. Grimm Group, has become the third independent company to receive a liquefied natural gas import licence as the sector is liberalized.

The B. Grimm Group said in a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand that it had been awarded a permit to import 650,000 tonnes per annum to the Map Ta Phut LNG import terminal in Rayong province.

Two other companies, the power producers Gulf Energy Development Public Co. and Hin Kong Power, have previously been awarded licences to import a combined 1.7 million tonnes per annum.

Thailand’s national oil and gas company, PTT, had previously been in the only importer to the Map Ta Phut regasification facility, which has storage capacity for 11.5 MTPA of LNG.

A second LNG terminal adjacent to the existing Map Ta Phut facility with a capacity of 7.5 MTPA is under construction and is expected to start operations by 2022.

A third Map Ta Phut expansion is also in the design phase, undergoing a feasibility study.

The Thai B. Grimm Group has been operating in the country since 1878 and the LNG licence was first applied for by the B. Grimm Power Co. subsidiary in 2016.

Preeyanart Soontornwata, the President of B. Grimm Power, said the company planned to use the LNG acquired through the licence to fuel five gas-fired small power producer (SPP) plants under construction.

SPP plants in Thailand sell electricity to the state grid at up to 90 megawatts, while the remaining capacity can be sold to private buyers through a private power purchase agreement.

The five Grimm Group plants, all in the Eastern Economic Corridor, had their concessions renewed by the Energy Regulatory Commission earlier in 2020.

“B.Grimm acquired an LNG Shipper licence from the ERC in the amount of 650,000 tons per year for supplying the LNG to the company’s combined cycle power plants from 2022,” said that statement from the company President, Mrs Preeyanart.

“The use of LNG is expected to support fuel cost management for electricity generation,” she added.

Gulf Energy Development said its licence awarded earlier would be used to supply LNG to 19 of its small-scale power plants.

The company said in a separate statement that Hin Kong Power also won a licence as part of a joint venture with Gulf Energy.

The LNG licence awards come as Thailand plans to boost imports with a new terminal near the single operating facility at Map Ta Phut, which last year imported 5 MTPA of LNG, mostly from Qatar and Malaysia.

The 5 MTPA of imports was still 14 percent more than the previous year when 4.4 MTPA was delivered.