Thailand aims to become regional LNG hub despite Covid-19 crisis
The escalating Covid-19 outbreak will not disrupt Thailand's aim to become a regional hub for liquefied natural gas (LNG), Energy Minister Sontirat Songtijirawong said recently.
Sontirat has of late assigned Thailand’s oil and gas conglomerate, PTT Plc, to take a lead in driving the country towards the goal.
He added that PTT has conducted a trial of LNG reload to transport LNG to small vessels.
The Energy Ministry has also revised regulations to liberalise the LNG market in the country.
Meanwhile, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) has conducted a trial of importing LNG from the spot market, with a second lot of import totalling 65,000 tonnes to be completed early this month.
Late last month, the Egat board approved the state agency’s plan to procure additional LNG from the spot market from this year until 2022.
Egat will import no more than 600,000 tonnes of LNG this year, 1.9 million tonnes next year and 1.5 million tonnes in 2022.
