Offshore staff
LONDON – Thailand’s Department of Mineral Fuels has awarded state oil company PTTEP production-sharing contracts for both the offshore G1/61 (Erawan) and G2/61 (Bongkot) projects.
This follows aninternational auction for long-term renewals of the PSCs for the giant offshore gas fields. According to Wood Mackenzie, PTTEP’s bid won based on its gas price and profit share terms.
Research analyst Jean-Baptiste Berchoteau said: “This confirms PTTEP’s strategy to secure domestic gas supply and increase its reserves in the country.
“The low gas price constant value offered by PTTEP ($3.55/MMbtu) truly reflects the national oil company’s ambition to beat the competition and satisfy DMF’s intention to offer more affordable gas.”
He pointed out that the loss of Erawan was Chevron’s second major blow in Southeast Asia after having to cede its Rokan asset to Pertamina in Indonesia earlier this year.
Chevron’s reserves and production in the region will now decline markedly post-2022, he claimed. “This also confirms a trend that Wood Mackenzie identified last year where we anticipated a progressive retreat of the majors from Southeast Asia, opening a gap we expected to be filled by regional NOCs…
“Many uncertainties are still to be clarified, such as the transfer of liabilities and decommissioning between Chevron and PTTEP, the guarantee of a smooth operatorship transition between the two companies and the level of capex that Chevron will dedicate to develop Erawan until 2022.”
12/13/2018
