Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has urged all parties and stakeholders involved in the bidding for concessions for oil and gas exploration to work out their differences at a public forum to be held by the government on Friday.
Gen Prayut said he expects all parties involved to participate in the forum to come to a mutual conclusion, rather than discuss the issue or stage protests elsewhere. The government will also send its representatives.
His comments came as hundreds of people opposed to new exploration for gas and petroleum rallied near Government House in Bangkok Monday, demanding the cancellation of the planned auction of domestic exploration concessions.
The protesters gathered in the car park of the Office of the Civil Service Commission next to Government House.
The office houses a complaints centre operated by Government House.
Leaders of the demonstrators included political activist Parnthep Pourpongpan and energy activist ML Kornkasiwat Kasemsri.
The protesters filed an open letter with the prime minister asking for the cancellation of the bidding for domestic petroleum concessions.
- Earlier report: Oil bids delayed by one month
They asked that the authorities and other people concerned carefully study the pros and cons of the past issuance of drilling concessions.
The government's Friday forum, which will be held at the Santi Maitree Building in the Government House compound, will be covered by the media and broadcast on the government-run daily television programme.
"I hope that the forum will create an understanding and this forum should be the last," Gen Prayut said, adding that the government would wait for the outcome of the forum before making any decisions on the matter.
Also on Monday, the National Energy Policy Committee (NEPC) agreed to postpone the submission period for bid applications for the 21st round of petroleum concessions.
The date has been deferred from tomorrow to March 16.
The prime minister said he has been in discussions with the Energy Ministry for some time about the postponement of the concession bidding.
He denied suggestions that the government had to postpone because of criticism of the concessions.
The 21st round of petroleum and gas exploration aims to cover 29 gas and oil resource blocks, of which 23 are offshore and six onshore.
Gen Prayut stressed the need to find new domestic petroleum reserves in case future production is halted at existing domestic sources and there is a decrease in supplies from neighbouring countries.
He said the existing gas and oil reserve blocks are expected to run out over the next five to 10 years.
Without new energy reserves to replace the existing ones, the country will run into problems, the prime minister said, adding that new investments will take four to five years to prepare.
"Who will take responsibility if new energy sources cannot be secured in time and there's inadequate energy in the next five to 10 years?" Gen Prayut said.
It will be too late to wait for the new government after the next election to fix the problem, Gen Prayut said, adding that imports of oil and gas from abroad are more expensive than locally-produced oil and gas.
Speaking after a meeting of the NEPC, Energy Minister Narongchai Akrasanee said the deadline was extended to accept petroleum exploration concession bids from tomorrow to March 16.
He said the government wanted to gather feedback on the issue at the forum.
Mr Narongchai said this method suits Thailand because concessionaires pay the exploration costs and they bear the risk of uncertain output in the future.
He also said the method could begin immediately because it already has the required legislation.
National benefits from past concessions also justified the continuation of the concession approach.
The groups opposed to the 21st-round of bidding suggested the government switch to the production-sharing contract (PSC) system, which they see as more flexible and beneficial to the country.
Mr Narongchai said the risk assessment of the PSC system is difficult and there are no laws to support it.