The upcoming auctions for petroleum exploration rights in the Erawan and Bongkot natural gas fields are moving forward as initially scheduled without delay, despite some protests, says energy minister Siri Jirapongphan.
"We cannot afford any more delays as it would affect the country's development path for domestic energy production to supply power generation," he said in response to environmental advocates submitting letters in opposition to the prime minister and provincial governors on Monday.
The government has about 3½ years left to seek new companies to operate in Erawan and Bongkot before the current contracts end in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
"In addition, the government has a short time to forecast the gas volume for exploration and production activities, and it must avoid any interruptions when the concessions end," Mr Siri said.
Despite calls from protesters, he said he will not join a public debate to discuss auctioning the gas fields.
The deadline for the Mineral Fuels Department to receive proposals from the four qualified participants is Tuesday at 4.30pm.
The four companies are Chevron, PTTEP, Total and Mubadala, which passed all the auction conditions for finances, capability, technical skill and business portfolio.
Chevron, PTTEP and Total operate two gas blocks under the current concessions, while Mubadala is a newcomer.
The four firms are submitting bids for Erawan (G1/61) while three firms, minus Total, are going for Bongkot (G2/61).
There are four envelopes for each proposal: a legal qualification for petroleum E&P operators; an acceptance for the government to hold a 25% stake; technical and investment plans; and the gas price sold to the state and offering it profit-sharing of at least 50%.
The department will take two months to screen all proposals and will select possible winning bidders by November.
The government will weight the gas price to the state as 65% of the decision, while the remaining 35% will be state benefits because the aim is to maintain local power prices.
The National Energy Policy Council chaired by the prime minister will consider and approve the winning bidders in December and company names will be announced in the same month.
Two 10-year contact signings are set in February as the ministry planned earlier, but daily gas production will be trimmed to 1,500 million standard cubic feet per day from 2,150.
"We have designed this auction very carefully for transparency and greater benefits to the country," said Mr Siri.
Natural gas makes up the majority of Thailand's power generation at 57%, followed by coal at 18%, renewable power at 13% and imported electricity from Laos at 12%.
The department estimates this auction of two gas blocks will come with combined capital expenditures and working capital of 1.2 trillion baht over the next 20 years and bring in 800 billion baht in revenue to the state.
Absorn Krisanasamith, the union chairwoman at PTT Plc, said it calls for energy policymakers to progress with the auction as PTT's workers are worried about interruptions in their work from delays.
"We believe the country will lose many benefits if the auction is postponed repeatedly, and policymakers must maintain the country's energy security, so there is no reason for further delays," said Ms Absorn.
In a related development, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) reported that 43 firms submitted documents to request expressions of interest for the auction to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Egat.
Patana Sangsriroujana, deputy governor for policy and planning, said Egat will screen the 43 qualified participants and announce them by October.
The contact signing is set for next February, while the first LNG cargo is expected by next March.
The contract period is around 4-8 years during 2019-26.
Egat is seeking any interested foreign supplier to ship 800,000-1.5 million tonnes of LNG to be stored at the LNG receiving terminal in Map Ta Phut, Rayong, which is owned by PTT LNG.