The national oil and gas conglomerate PTT Plc plans to increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to 6 million tonnes this year, up from 3.3 million in 2022, in line with growing demand in the power sector driven by the tourism recovery.
The increase in purchases also aligns with government policy to increase domestic stocks of LNG, said Pongpun Amornvivat, PTT’s senior executive vice-president for international trade.
PTT has imported 4 million tonnes of LNG so far this year.
The current LNG price in the spot market is US$9.4 per million British thermal units (MMBTU), far below last year's level when global energy prices soared due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, LNG prices stood at $35-40 per MMBTU, according to the Energy Ministry.
Analysts said earlier that LNG prices would increase in the winter months but this should be limited to $15-16 per MMBTU. It would hardly seem possible to see the prices reach $30 per MMBTU, according to the analysts.
PTT expects its total petroleum trade this year to get close to the level recorded in 2022. Total volume last year stood at 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOED).
Up to 1 million BOED would be crude oil, with the remainder being gas and refined oil, said Noppadol Pinsupa, PTT’s chief operating officer for downstream petroleum business.
The company expects global oil prices to be around $75-85 a barrel through the rest of this year amid a global economic slowdown.
Prasong Intaranongpai, PTT’s acting senior executive vice-president for downstream business, said PTT plans to increase earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation from its downstream business to 30% of total revenue within 2030, up from 15% last year.
One way to generate more revenue is to have PTT’s subsidiaries — PTT Global Chemical, IRPC and Thai Oil — develop more high value-added polymers to be used as raw materials for making components of smart electronic equipment, batteries and auto parts.
Another unit, PTT Oil and Retail Business, continues to grow its mobility and lifestyle businesses. It will increase the number of its electric vehicle chargers from 300 to 500 this year.
Mr Prasong said PTT is conducting feasibility studies on the production of biofuel for aircraft from used cooking oil and palm oil as well as a business to desalinate seawater.