Bangkok (Platts)--16Dec2010/341 am EST/841 GMT
Chevron is on schedule to start up its Platong 2 gas project in the Gulf of Thailand in July 2011, the president of the US oil company's local arm said December 15. Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production President Pairoj Kaweeyanun said the production platform would be installed at Platong 2 next April. Chevron has agreed to deliver 330,000 Mcf/day of natural gas from Platong 2 to Thailand's state-owned oil and gas company PTT, although the project has a capacity of 400,000 Mcf/d, he added. Platong 2 was originally expected to start up in 2012, but has been fast-tracked into production. At PTT's request, Chevron has produced and delivered 10% more gas than the contracted volume of 1.24 Bcf/d in 2010, Pairoj said. "We have delivered around 1.5 Bcf/d of natural gas thanks to growing demand for this kind of energy, especially in the electricity generating industry and the general industrial sector," he added. Thailand's natural gas consumption in 2010 has averaged about 4.5 Bcf/d, up around 12% from 2009, according to Pairoj. Chevron's production accounts for around a third of the country's total consumption. In 2011, Thailand's gas demand is expected to rise by 3-5% from the 2010 level. Chevron has committed to deliver 1.447 Bcf/d of gas in 2011 to PTT, which may ask for additional volumes, Pairoj said. All of Chevron's Thai crude production of 88,000 b/d in 2010 was delivered to PTT and the company expects to maintain this volume in the coming year, he added.--Donrudee Chaisombat, newsdesk@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Oilgram News. See more information at http://bit.ly/OilgramNews