Thailand sets its sights on increasing LNG import capacity
BANGKOK May 30 (Reuters) - Thailand's PTT Pcl will invest an additional $28 MM to increase LNG capacity by 1.5 MMtpy to serve rising demand, the country's energy minister said on Monday.
The increase will lift capacity at PTT's LNG import terminal at Map Ta Phut to 11.5 MMtpy in 2019, the minister Anantaporn Kanjanarat told reporters.
State-controlled PTT, Thailand's largest energy company, is already in the process of doubling the terminal's annual capacity to 10 MMtpy by 2017.
PTT also received approval from the national energy policy committee to build a second 5 MMtpy LNG terminal at a new location in Rayong province. Total cost is expected to be over $1 B.
The delay in construction of coal-fired power plants has prompted the country's energy policy makers to raise demand estimates for natural gas to 5,653 MMcfd from earlier forecasts of 4,344 MMcfd for 2015-2036, according to a statement issued by the energy ministry.
PTT will also study the possibility to raise the annual capacity at the second terminal to 7.5 MMtpy, with construction to be completed in 2022, Anantaporn said.
Thailand will have to import more LNG to offset lower supply from Myanmar - its traditional supplier for pipelined natural gas - as its neighbor is expected to use more of the fuel for its own development, the ministry's statement also said.
Thailand uses natural gas for nearly 70% of its power generation and has become increasingly reliant on imports as its own domestic gas fields are slowly being depleted.
The state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) will also study a proposal to build a floating LNG storage and regasification unit at the upper end of the Gulf of Thailand, with an expected annual capacity of 5 MMtpy, the energy ministry's statement said.
EGAT is to complete the study and make a recommendation to the energy ministry within three-and-a-half months, it said.
However, LNG demand is forecast to be between 2.7 MMtpy and 3.1 MMtpy in 2016.
PTT was still in discussions with Royal Dutch Shell and BP to delay its long-term LNG purchases to 2017 from this year, the statement said.
(Reporting by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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