Thailand ups long-term LNG imports due to coal plant delays

BANGKOK: Thailand is increasing its planned long-term imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet rising demand after delays to the construction of coal-fired power plants, a senior official at energy ministry said on Wednesday.

Energy policy makers have revised their target of LNG imports to 17.4 million tonnes in 2022 and reaching 34 million tonnes a year by 2036, up from earlier planned 23 million tonnes, Twarath Sutabutr, Director-General of the ministry's Energy Policy and Planning Office, told a news conference.

"Natural gas supplies in the Gulf of Thailand will drop in the future. Thailand needs to accelerate LNG imports," Twarath said, adding the plan was subject to final approval from the national energy policy committee next month.

Domestic natural gas demand is expected to rise to 5,062 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) in 2036, up from previous forecast of 4,344 mmcfd, the ministry said in a statement.

Thailand, which uses natural gas for nearly 70 percent of its power generation, has become increasingly reliant on LNG imports as its domestic gas fields are slowly being depleted.

The government's plan to build coal-fired power plants in southern Thailand has been delayed due to opposition from villagers and environmentalists, Twarath said.

Another possible delay in opening bids for expiring oil and gas exploration contracts will also affect domestic gas supplies, he said.

To serve rising LNG imports, the energy planning committee has approved PTT's plan to raise capacity of its new LNG import terminal to 7.5 million tonnes a year from 5 million, expected to be completed in 2023, Twarath said.

State-controlled PTT also has approval to study a proposal for a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Myanmar with an estimated annual capacity of 3 million tonnes. The study is expected to be completed by end-May 2017, he said.

Another state firm Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) is also studying a similar storage unit in the Gulf of Thailand with estimated capacity of 5 million tonnes a year, Twarath added.

PTT, Thailand's sole gas supplier, has said it planned to import at least 5 million tonnes of LNG in 2017, up from about 3 million this year.

PTT is already in the process of doubling the capacity of its existing LNG import terminal to 10 million tonnes, to be completed in 2017 and another expansion of 1.5 million tonnes to be completed in 2019.