Thailand’s PTT Eyes Third LNG Terminal in Myanmar

PTT PCL, Thailand’s biggest energy company, is looking to build a third liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Myanmar to help secure energy supply in the Southeast Asian country, a senior executive said.

LNG, gas chilled to liquid form so it shrinks and is easier to transport, is an important source of fuel in Thailand, which uses natural gas for almost 70 percent of its power generation and one-fourth is imported from Myanmar.

PTT is studying a plan to build an LNG receiving terminal adjacent to a gas pipeline already linked to existing gas fields in Myanmar, Nuttachat Charuchinda, chief operating officer for PTT’s upstream business, told reporters in Thailand.

The terminal, expected to have capacity of 5 million tonnes per year, will offer a more convenient location to ship LNG from suppliers in the Middle East, he added.

PTT already owns the $880 million, 5 million-tonne-per-year Map Ta Phut LNG import facility, the second-largest in Southeast Asia, and parts of cross-country pipelines running for hundreds of kilometres from Myanmar.

The company is also building a second LNG terminal, with the same capacity of the first one, at Map Ta Phut in eastern province of Rayong, which is expected to be completed in 2017, Reuters reported.

PTT, the country’s only gas supplier, has cut estimates for LNG imports for this year as demand slowed after months of domestic political unrest.

PTT, through its upstream business PTT Exploration and Production Pcl, has been operating in Myanmar for 25 years.

Credit: Aung Phyo
Credit picture from: Sukree Sukplang/Reuters

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