Banpu Posts Net Loss as Baht Strength Erodes Profits, But Coal and Gas Price Rally Lifts 2026 Outlook

 

 

Thai energy firm reports a USD 61.5m loss for 2025 despite solid operating performance, as Middle East tensions push coal to USD 136 per tonne.

 

 

Banpu, the Thai energy conglomerate listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, has reported a net loss of USD 61.5 million for 2025, despite recording solid revenues and operating profit across its coal, gas and power businesses. 

 

The loss was driven primarily by an unrealised foreign exchange translation loss of USD 45.9 million, stemming from the appreciation of the Thai baht against the US dollar during the year, compounded by financial derivative adjustments and other non-recurring items.

 

Total sales revenue for 2025 reached USD 5,278 million, with EBITDA of USD 1,191 million and an operating profit of USD 22.3 million.

 

The company stressed that its underlying operational performance remained intact and pointed to favourable commodity price movements so far in 2026 as grounds for a more optimistic outlook in the year ahead.

 

 

 

 

Middle East Tensions Lift Coal and Gas Prices

During a press conference on Wednesday, Banpu’s chief executive Sinon Vongkusolkit said that instability across the Middle East had pushed oil and liquefied natural gas prices higher, with knock-on effects rippling through to the coal market. 

 

Thermal coal, which averaged USD 100 per tonne in 2025, rose from USD 110 per tonne at the start of 2026 to USD 136 per tonne at present — a 36% increase year-on-year. Natural gas prices at the Henry Hub benchmark in the United States have also moved upward.

 

The company has hedged approximately 70% of its gas production capacity at USD 3.8 per million British thermal units, with the remainder sold at prevailing market rates. 

 

 

 

Sinon said that, taken together, higher commodity prices alongside volume growth across all three of its main business lines — coal, natural gas and electricity — led him to expect the company’s full-year 2026 performance to improve on 2025.

 

 

 

 

Coal Output Targets Raised; Indonesia Awaits Quota Approval

For 2026, Banpu has set a coal production target exceeding 42 million tonnes and a sales target of more than 45 million tonnes. Its Mongolian mine, which recorded its first commercial sales in 2025 at 1.62 million tonnes, is expected to ramp up output to 3 million tonnes this year. 

 

The Australian operation is targeting sales of 8.3 million tonnes, while production at Chinese mines is expected to remain broadly stable. Operations in Indonesia are awaiting government quota approval, though the company expects volumes to be no lower than in 2025. First-quarter production is planned at 5.1 million tonnes.

 

 

 

 

US Gas Business Expands After Bedrock Acquisition

In the United States, Banpu’s closed-loop gas business — which integrates upstream gas production, power generation and carbon capture, utilisation and sequestration (CCUS) — grew its total gas sales volume to 305 billion cubic feet in 2025, a 6% increase year-on-year, following the completion of its acquisition of Barnett Shale operator Bedrock Production in September 2025. 

 

The company said it is actively seeking further acquisition opportunities in the Barnett field of a similar scale, with reserves of approximately one trillion cubic feet equivalent.

 

 

 

Two additional CCUS projects are expected to reach commercial operation this year, adding to revenues. The company’s Barnett Zero project injected 138,280 tonnes of carbon in 2025, while the Cotton Cove project is targeted to come online in the first half of 2026 with an annual capacity of 32,000 tonnes.
 

 

 

 

Battery Storage and Renewables Eye AI and Data Centre Demand

Banpu’s power and infrastructure arm is expanding its battery energy storage system (BESS) portfolio, which now stands at a total capacity of 2,100 megawatt-hours across projects in Japan, Australia and the United States. 

 

The company is also developing a solar farm in China, the Jinhu Qianfeng project, which it expects to reach commercial operation by the third quarter of 2026. 

 

It is separately evaluating mergers and acquisitions of gas-fired power plants in the United States and Asia, with demand from AI infrastructure and data centres cited as a key growth driver.

 

 

 

Merger with Banpu Power to Create Listed ‘NewCo’ by Q3 2026

Following shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting in January, Banpu is proceeding with its merger with subsidiary Banpu Power Public Company Limited to form a new listed entity, to be named BANPU, under Thailand’s Public Limited Companies Act. 

 

The process — including the purchase of shares from dissenting shareholders, the allocation of new shares and a joint shareholders’ meeting — is expected to be completed within the second quarter of 2026, with the new company targeting a Stock Exchange of Thailand listing in the third quarter.

 

The restructured group has set two headline targets for 2030: growing EBITDA by more than 1.5 times from its current base, and increasing the share of non-coal revenues to above 50% of EBITDA. 

 

Coal currently remains the company’s dominant earnings source, and the timeline for achieving that rebalancing will be closely watched by investors monitoring the company’s stated transition away from fossil fuels.