PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP) have given assurances that its five-year US$3 billion investment on oil exploration in Myanmar will be transparent.
Tevin Vongvanich, PTTEP president and chief executive, said the US$3 billion allocation would be part of the company’s US$25 billion investment to produce 600,000 barrels of oil in 2020.
The major portion of the US$3 billion investment, US$2 billion, will be invested in Myanmar Zawtika Project and production should start in the first quarter of next year with a daily capacity of 300 million cubic feet – 240 million cubic feet of which would be sold to Thailand and the remaining volume to Myanmar.
PTTEP, a subsidiary of Thailand’s state-run oil and gas conglomerate PTT Plc, has invested in four petroleum exploration and production projects in Myanmar, including the Yanada project, Yetagun project, Myanmar Zawtika project and Myanmar M3 and M11 project.
Mr Tevin said PTTEP has transparently invested in Myanmar for more than 23 years and its acquisition of concessions for the MD7 and MD8 platforms was normal, based on the two countries’ common interest.
PTTEP projects a US$24.671 billion investment in the next five years, mostly in Thailand to maintain domestic oil production at 240,000 to 250,000 barrels per day while foreign investment should generate 600,000 barrels a day in 2020, a sharp increase from the present production of 340,000 barrels a day, he said.
Oil production should be increased by 9 per cent this year and 10 per cent next year while this year’s sales volume expanded by 9 per cent, or at 300,000 to 310,000 barrels per day, and by 10 per cent next year.
Mr Tevin denied a social media report that PTTEP paid a Bt8.5 billion compensation for the oil spill at the Montara platform on August 21, 2009, saying PTTEP was fined 500,000 Australian dollars by the Australian government and paid 100 million Australian dollars for environmental maintenance and closing the oil platform.
The Australian authorities were satisfied with the PTTEP follow-up of the ecological and production systems and its prevention of the oil slick from flowing to the Australian and Indonesian mainlands.
The spill lasted 74 days at a volume of 400 barrels per day, he said.
Asdakorn Limpiti, PTTEP vice president, said the company will pitch for the purchase of the Pailin and Phu Hom petroleum exploration platforms, operated by Hess Corp, a US energy company, and two other platforms in Indonesia.
Hess has announced sales of the platforms and results should be known late this year, he said.
