[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
BP: June 2, 1998 : PTT goes it alon
- Subject: BP: June 2, 1998 : PTT goes it alon
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 05 Jun 1998 20:12:00
June 2, 1998
ENERGY / DEVELOPING SOURCES FOR THE
FUTURE
PTT goes it alone
on Ayutthaya gas
line
Joint venture talks threaten to delay
construction schedule
Boonsong Kositchotethana
The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) has dropped a plan
to form a joint venture with private business to lay a
12-billion-baht natural gas pipeline from Ratchaburi to
Ayutthaya.
The pipeline was earlier planned to be the first candidate for
liberalising the gas transmission business, which has long been
monopolised by the state oil company.
Now the PTT has decided to handle the project alone, saying
this would allow it to meet the pipeline completion deadline in
2000.
Given the long time involved in negotiating joint-venture contracts
under the State Enterprise Joint Venture Act, PTT would have
been unlikely to meet the deadline under its original plan, PTT
Gas president Piti Yimprasert said yesterday.
The pipeline, 30-36 inches in diameter and 150 kilometres in
length, would run from the Ratchaburi power plant, now under
construction, to the Wang Noi power station in Ayutthaya. Both
plants are gas-fired and operated by the Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand (Egat).
The line would form an extension to the 260-km Thai section of
the gas transmission system from the Yadana field off the coast
of Burma. The Thai section runs from Ban I-Tong,
Kanchanaburi, on the Burmese border, to Ratchaburi.
Though he acknowledged the budgetary constraints, Dr Piti said
PTT would need to secure funds "by all means" to ensure that
the pipeline could be built on schedule.
"It's not that we were against the joint-venture scheme," he said.
There is an urgency to complete the Ratchaburi-Wang Noi
pipeline which would provide an additional outlet for Burmese
gas that the PTT has contracted to purchase.
Furthermore, he said, the new line offers greater security of gas
supplies to the country, especially in case of disruption of
deliveries from fields in the Gulf of Thailand, source of most of
the country's indigenous gas.
Natural gas from the Yadana field is due to start flowing in July
or August, with production reaching 525 million cubic feet
(MMcfd) 15 months after.
In 2000, gas from Yadana will be supplemented by deliveries
from the Yetagun field off Burma, with a contractual flow rate of
200 MMcfd.
Dr Piti said the design of the Ratchaburi-Wang Noi line had been
completed and PTT would soon issue invitations to bid for the
supply and laying of the line.
The PTT said it had no objection to private participation in its
new gas transmission projects. The private sector would provide
part of the financing needed to get the projects off the ground at
a time when the PTT budget is being squeezed.
The PTT has already made a joint-venture deal with Thai Po,
Thai Romo and B8/32 Partners Co - the concession holders of
the Benjamas and Tantawan gas fields - for the offshore
Benjamas-Tantawan gas line. The concession holders have
agreed to invest 65% in the pipeline with PTT paying 35%.
© The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 1998
Contact the Bangkok Post
Web Comments: Webmaster
Last Modified: Tue, Jun 2, 1998