PTTEP to sell Australian gas field in 2023

PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP) is continuing to refocus its investments on new petroleum sites, with the latest plan to sell the Cash and Maple gas and condensate field in Australia.

This move would leave PTTEP with some small petroleum businesses in Australia.

Montri Rawanchaikul, chief executive and president of PTTEP, said the company expects to sell this asset in 2023, following an announcement several years ago.

Cash and Maple, located 680 kilometres west of Darwin in the Timor Sea, contains an estimated 3.5 trillion cubic feet of petroleum resources.

Drilling wells, made during explo- rations in 2011 and 2012, provided encouraging results that indicated a larger gas resource than previously projected.

"But the area is too far and production costs would be high, driven by the construction of a gas pipeline," said Mr Montri. "If we shift to liquefied natural gas production, the business will not be viable because facility costs are too high."

The sale of the Cash and Maple field is in line with PTTEP's plan to direct its investments to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In 2018, the company sold the Montara petroleum field in Australia to Jadestone Energy (Eagle) Pty.

In another development, PTTEP decided to delay the development of an integrated gas-to-power project to generate electricity in Myanmar.

The project, which requires US$2 billion in investment, includes: an upstream gas business project named Aung Sinkha, often known as M3; a 600-megawatt combined-cycle power plant located in Kyaiklat; the development of a 370km offshore and onshore gas pipeline route from Kanbauk to Daw Nyein and Kyaiklat; and a transmission line from Kyaiklat to Hlaingtharyar.

PTTEP plans to continue its existing gas production in the country, even as Western nations have imposed sanctions targeting individuals and entities linked to Myanmar's military government.

"We produce up to half of the gas used in electricity generation in Myanmar and almost 20% of that in Thailand, so locals will not suffer," he said.