New pipeline planned for Thailand

PTT Plc, the Thai national oil and gas conglomerate, plans to invest more than 100 billion baht on a new gas pipeline from Rayong's Map Ta Phut to Bangkok.

The project will be its fifth pipeline to serve the constantly increasing demand for gas in the future, according to Chief Executive and President Pailin Chuchottaworn.

"Our four gas pipelines are operating at nearly full capacity, so we have to prepare for the new one since construction will take years," he said. Details of the new pipeline have yet to be finalised as the company is waiting for the results of the feasibility study.

The project would also need to meet the requirements of the state's power development plan (PDP). However, he said that it would probably be routed to link with pipelines carrying gas from Myanmar in order to secure gas supply in the future.

LNG provision

PTT and electricity distributor EGAT are investigating the feasibility of building a large liquid natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal on Myanmar’s southeast coast near Dawei.

The terminal would reformat LNG, shipped from the Middle East, to pump by pipeline into Thailand, reports said. Pipelines currently pumping gas to Thailand from production fields in the Andaman Sea come ashore near Dawei.

The terminal would need to have a processing capacity of 5 million tpy.

Myanmar gas fuels about 25% of Thailand’s electricity generation because domestic production from fields in the Gulf of Thailand is not enough. However, some of the supply from Myanmar is expected to end within the next 10 years.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: Bangkok Post, The Irrawaddy

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/14102014/new-pipeline-planned-for-thailand/