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PTT to continue natural gas purchase from Myanmar
Thailand’s largest oil and gas conglomerate PTT Public Co. Ltd. will
continue procuring natural gas from Myanmar despite an outcry from the
international community and calls for foreign companies to switch
investments elsewhere following the Myanmar junta’s crackdown on the
country’s pro-democracy citizens and monks.
Chitrapongse Kwangsukstith, senior executive vice-president for PTT’s
Exploration & Production and Gas Business Group, said he was confident that
the company would sign a purchase agreement for natural gas from the M9
petroleum field in the Gulf of Martaban with concerned Myanmar authorities
before the end of the year.
Under the initial agreement, PTT will buy between 300-400 million cubic feet
per day (mmcfd) and the volume could be increased once the exact amount of
natural gas of the M9 field is known, Mr. Chitrapongse said.
Despite calls by the international community for foreign firms to boycott
business dealings with military-ruled Myanmar, he said that PTT would
continue purchasing natural gas from the Yadana and Yetagun fields which now
supply about 1,000 mmcfd to Thailand.
The two fields also help develop Myanmar’s economy and procurement must
continue, he said.
In another development, Mr. Chitrapongse said PTT’s investment in the
natural gas separation plant in the eastern province of Rayong will be
delayed some three months and its operations would not likely start until
early 2010 due to a late started environment impact assessment.
The delay will also affect a new olefins plant of PTT Chemical Pcl, he said,
adding that concerned executives were now discussing what alternative energy
sources could be used to avoid any disruption to the production of
petro-chemicals at the plant. (TNA)
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