BANGKOK, 29 September 2015 – Director-General of the Mineral Fuels Department Puangthip Silpasart has revealed that an exploration of petroleum reserves in Thailand by IHS Consulting-Energy&Natural Resources is expected to finish in October.
She said the Ministry of Energy has hired the consulting company to estimate prospective volume of the petroleum reserves to be used as supplementary data for making decision which kinds of concessions would give optimal benefits to Thailand in the 21st Bidding Round for Thai Petroleum Concessions.
Mrs.Puangthip said that the Ministry would be able to announce its invitation for petroleum exploration and production only after the Petroleum Act and Petroleum Income Tax Act are approved by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) and enacted.
She believed investors would be interested in the petroleum concession in Thailand despite the falling oil prices in global market as there are many other factors they would take into account when making investment decision.
Mrs.Puangthip who is about to retire this October, added that she wished the petroleum exploration could begin by the end of 2015 as she thought such an effort to ensure national energy security would be very difficult to achieve during the governments that follow.
