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Reuters-Thai PTT to settle Yadana g



Subject: Reuters-Thai PTT to settle Yadana gas bill issue by July

Tuesday June 22, 12:21 am Eastern Time
Thai PTT to settle Yadana gas bill issue by July
BANGKOK, June 22 (Reuters) - State-run Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT)
is expected to settle by next month the issue of payment of a $62 million
bill for delays in taking gas from Myanmar's Yadana pipeline, a senior PTT
source said on Tuesday.

The source told Reuters that PTT and a consortium led by France's Total SA
which runs offshore Yadana had agreed in principle on all major issues at a
negotiation on the bill between the two parties in Myanmar recently.

``All the major issues are agreed upon. We are now working on minor details,
such as the wording in the contract. We expect official agreement and
documentation to be ready by next month,'' the source who declined to be
named said without elaborating.

Other members of the Yadana gas consortium include Unocal (NYSE:UCL - news)
and PTT Exploration and Production .

PTT signed a take-or-pay contract with Yadana concessionaires to start
taking gas from Yadana via a pipeline into western Thailand from August
1998. Under such a deal a buyer must pay for the contracted amount of gas
whether or not he can take deliver.

The gas was to have been used as fuel in the state-run Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand's (EGAT) Ratchaburi power plant in western
Thailand.

The contract required PTT to take an initial 65 million cubic feet per day
(mmcfd), rising to 525 mmcfd over 15 months.

However, PTT has been able to take only five mmcfd so far.

PTT recently said it was willing and able to pay the bill, but would like
Yadana producers to meet contract requirements on energy content in the
natural gas piped.

PTT had also said that due to a delay in the completion of the Ratchaburi
power plant, it could not consume the contract minimum volume obligation for
1998.