Bangkok-listed Thai State-owned oil and gas conglomerate PTT Pcl has conducted a feasibility study to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) for industrial use to industrial estates in Yangon, said Wuttikorn Stithit, senior executive vice-president for the company’s gas business PTT LNG Co Ltd.
Yangon, the commercial capital of Myanmar, has more than a dozen industrial estates.
Wuttikorn said PTT estimates LNG demand in CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) markets as well as the Philippines and southern China at more than one million tonnes per year.
Demand for natural gas worldwide has fallen due to the Covid-19 impact, but PTT believes it will recover by mid- to late next year.
Meanwhile, Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) secretary-general and spokesman Khomkrit Tantrawanich has announced that the ERC has accepted PTT LNG’s proposal to increase the commodity charge for LNG.
PTT LNG proposed that the commodity charge be increased to 1.4217 baht ($0.046) per million BTU from the current rate of 0.481 baht per million BTU, which had been used from July 1, last year until June 30.
Khomkrit said: “The commission considered the proposal and approved the adjustment of LNG commodity charge up to 0.5382 baht per million BTU, to be effective from September 1 until December 31.
“The new rate will be effective in practical terms the moment it passes the stakeholders’ hearing, after which the ERC will let PTT LNG officially announce the new rate,” he said.
The stakeholders’ hearing for the new commodity charge rate of PTT LNG will be held from August 27 until September 2, and can be viewed from the website: http://www.erc.or.th/
Currently PTT LNG is the only agency in Thailand allowed to store and transform natural gas into liquid form. Their terminal is located in Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong.
PTT LNG will charge two parts for their service – fixed cost at 18.35 baht per million BTU, which will be revised every four to five years, or by 2022 the soonest, and the commodity cost, which will be revised every year.
The ERC also reported that the price of natural gas that PTT Plc sells to industrial entrepreneurs had gone down continually this year.
Khomkrit said: “In January the price was 261.56 baht per million BTU, while the price in October is estimated at 213.92 baht, in line with the global natural gas price, which could result in reducing the cost for domestic electricity generation.”
THE NATION (THAILAND)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
