[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
Opponents bare cheap gas options
- Subject: Opponents bare cheap gas options
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 17:41:00
Politics
Opponents bare cheap
gas options
THAILAND doesn't need to buy natural gas
from Burma's Yadana field because plenty
of other clean and cheap sources of energy
are available, pipeline opponents said
Monday.
The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT),
meanwhile, began talks with the Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat)
following the latter's admission that the
power plant being built to burn the Yadana
gas will not be completed on time.
''We're going to talk with Egat and see how
long the delay is,'' said Anon
Sirisaengtaksin, the PTT's deputy president
in charge of natural gas transmission and
marketing. ''If the delay is just a few days,
then it should not be a problem. If it's a few
months, then there could be problems.''
Egat, whose budget is under strict
supervision by the IMF, is facing financial
liquidity problems and may not be able to
accept the loans needed to finish the
mammoth power plant until after the fiscal
year ends on Sept 30, according to Pipob
Udomittipong of the Kalayanamitra Council.
The pipeline, meanwhile, is due to start
delivering gas by July 1, and the PTT
claims it will have to pay huge fines if it is
not ready to accept delivery by that date.
Speaking before a national committee set
up to review the controversial pipeline
project, Pipob also raised questions about
the price of the gas.
Back in 1994 when the Yadana gas sales
agreement was signed, PM's Office
Minister Sawit Bhotiwihok was quoted as
saying the price was US$2.52 per million
British thermal units (mbtu), said Pipob. He
added that due to inflation, the cost had
now risen to US$3/mbtu, as acknowledged
by Piti Yimprasert, the PTT official who
oversees natural gas development.
But Pipob noted that the original price was
still more expensive than the $2.30/mbtu
rate later negotiated for gas from the
Thai-Malaysia Joint Development Area
(JDA).
The discrepancy is all the stranger, added
Witoon Permpongsacharoen of the
environmental group Terra, because
Thailand was the only possible customer for
the gas from the Yadana field, since no
other surrounding countries needed it and it
was not economically feasible to liquefy it
and ship it to a distant market.
''Back [in the early 1990s] when Thailand
was trying to decide whether to purchase
gas from Malaysia or Burma, then-minister
Korn Dabbaransi said it was better to buy
from Burma because we had more power
over them in negotiating the price and the
date of purchase,'' said Witoon. ''Malaysia
offered to sell the JDA gas at the price of
$2.50, but Thailand wanted it to be reduced
to $2.30, so why didn't we make the same
demand from Burma?''
However, committee chairman Anand
Panyarachun said that at the time he
served as prime minister in 1991-92,
purchasing gas from the JDA was a
questionable proposition because
Malaysia, having plenty of gas reserves of
its own, was in no hurry to sell it to Thailand.
''Thailand needed a definite supply of gas
and, during the Anand I administration, it
was not possible to say we could definitely
use the JDA gas,'' Anand explained.
The PTT's Anon said that the JDA gas cost
$2.30/mbtu back in 1995-96, but since then
it had risen with the price of inflation. He
also claimed that the $3/mbtu Yadana price
referred to gas that had already been
transported from the Andaman Sea to the
Thai border.
But Pipob quoted Piti as saying the
$3/mbtu rate did not include the cost of
transporting it via pipeline to the Thai
border.
''We are not confident that the Yadana gas
is being purchased at the cheapest price
possible,'' he said. ''We want the PTT to
provide clearer information on this point.''
Pipob also quoted Egat statistics to show
that demand-side management (DSM)
could reduce energy demand by over 1,700
megawatts over the next five years and is
much cheaper than increasing power
supply through the purchase of natural gas.
The Ratchaburi power plant will eventually
use both coal and gas to produce 4,600
megawatts.
Even if DSM is not factored in, Pipob said,
there are plenty of gas reserves in the Gulf
of Thailand and the JDA to meet Thailand's
future energy demand, projections of which
have been reduced due to the current
economic malaise.
BY JAMES FAHN
The Nation