Thailand’s national upstream company PTTEP is planning this year to invest $6.721 billion in oil, gas and clean energy projects both on its home turf and overseas, with the goal of boosting petroleum production by about 9% versus 2023 to 505,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

PTTEP’s 2024 focus in the Gulf of Thailand includes ramping up production at its G1/61 project — the Erawan, Platong, Satun and Funan fields — to 800 million cubic feet per day of gas in April, maintaining gas output at its G2/61 project (the Bongkot) field and at its Arthit project where a carbon capture and storage scheme is being developed.

The company also plans to accelerate exploration both domestically and internationally to support future energy needs — it has set aside a provisional budget of $2.022 billion for the period from 2024 to 2028 to advance various forms of clean energy.

Net profit up 10%

PTTEP in 2023 generated total revenues of $9.507 billion, down around 6% from the previous year. While last year’s average sales volume of 462,007 boepd was on a par with 2022, the average selling price slumped 10% to $48.21 per barrel as global crude prices fell.

However, the company recorded significantly lower non-operating expenses, including oil price hedging and impairment charges that resulted in a 2023 net profit of $2.208 billion — up 10% year-on-year — around 40% of which came from the business expansion in Southeast Asia and the Middle East over the past years.

Chief executive Montri Rawanchaikul said the company made significant progress in 2023. It won two new Gulf of Thailand exploration blocks — G1/65 and G3/65 — which are adjacent to its existing projects. PTTEP also discovered “petroleum potential” in three discoveries — Bangsawan, Chenda and Babadon — off the coast of Sarawak, East Malaysia, that can be developed as a cluster to accelerate production start-up.

The company also expanded its clean energy business with the award of a large-scale green hydrogen project in Oman’s Block Z1-02 and the acquisition of a 25.5% stake in Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm, the largest offshore wind power plant in Scotland that will immediately generate revenue.

Meanwhile, the first solar power project ‘Lan Sang Arun’ commenced at PTTEP’s S1 project in Phitsanulok Province, Thailand, to reduce reliance on gas-generated electricity and greenhouse gas emissions.

With a stated aim to achieve near-zero upstream methane emissions by 2030, PTTEP has signed a memorandum of understanding to participate in the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0) under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and has also pledged the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter together with 52 oil and gas companies, as part of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 28).

In 2023, PTTEP paid 54.28 billion baht ($1.53 billion) of income tax, royalties and other remunerations to the Thai government, plus the profit sharing from the petroleum produced at the G1/61 and assets also directly contributed to Bangkok’s coffers.