Thailand's top energy firm, PTT Pcl, has cancelled a deal with Qatar to buy 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and signed contracts with two suppliers to import LNG from late 2011, its executive said. State-controlled PTT was in talks with several suppliers on pricing of LNG to be imported after the middle of 2012, Wichai Pornkeratiwat, senior executive vice-president for its gas business, told reporters.
In 2008, PTT signed the deal to buy 1 million tonnes of LNG a year from Qatar from late 2011 to feed Thailand's first $880 million LNG receiving terminal at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate in the earthern province of Rayong. PTT officially opened the 5 million tonne a year LNG terminal, the first in Southeast Asia.
Chief Executive Prasert Bunsumpun said PTT planned to expand the capacity of the LNG terminal to 10 million tonnes, expecting construction to be completed in 2016 with an estimated investment of $400 million.
LNG -- gas chilled to liquid form so it shrinks and is easier to transport -- is a key fuel source in Thailand, which uses natural gas to generate about 70 percent of its electricity.
