Thailand Hopes To Explore Natural Gas In Overlapping Zone

[webfact]

Thailand hopes to explore natural gas in overlapping zone

By Digital Media

BANGKOK, Jan 11 – Thailand needs to urgently negotiate with Cambodia to exploit oil and gas reserves affected by the disputed maritime boundary, or overlapping claims area (OCA), given its increasing domestic energy consumption, according to a senior Energy Ministry official.

Songpope Polachan, director general of the Mineral Fuels Department, said natural gas in the Gulf of Thailand will be exhausted in the next five years and additional supply is necessary to cope with the rocketing consumption.

The Foreign Ministry is duty-bound to negotiate with Cambodia on the OCA, covering 26,000 sq km, to launch exploration and production of natural gas in the area for the benefit of both countries, he said.

He said Thailand’s production of natural gas has reached its peak of 3,600-3,800 million cu ft/day while the total domestic demand is 4,800 million cu ft/day.

The Mineral Fuels Department predicted that Thailand will be able to maintain the highest production level for the next five years, he said, adding that the department looks forward to extending the highest production level to 10 years by investing in exploration of smaller-scale gas reserve sites.

Production will be reduced to 1,000 million cu ft/day in the next 20-30 years, he said.

Mr Songpope insisted that the OCA negotiation is unrelated to the Thai-Cambodian dispute on Phra Viharn (Preah Vihear) temple which is pending a ruling of the International Court of Justice.

The OCA issue, in which both countries claim rights within the disputed boundary, is under maritime law while the Phra Viharn conflict is under the Siamese-French treaty, he explained.

“We are waiting for the Foreign Ministry’s negotiation on the OCA after which the issue will be tabled to the cabinet and parliament as required by Section 190 of the constitution,” he said.

If an agreement is reached, it will take at least 10 years before natural gas can be supplied, he said, adding that Thailand’s demand for natural gas has increased at least 5 per cent each year, mainly for electricity generating (62.6 per cent), industrial consumption (17.7 per cent), vehicles (5.2 per cent) and gas separation plants (13.9 per cent).

The Energy Ministry, he added, is negotiating for gas reserves from neighbouring countries including Myanmar. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2013-01-11

[Moruya]

Thailand should take their case to the ICJ

[bigbamboo]

This is a job for the two nation's leaders, Hun Sen and Thaksin.

In fact I'd bet they've made a start already.

[Moruya]

This is a job for the two nation's leaders, Hun Sen and Thaksin.

In fact I'd bet they've made a start already.

More than a start. The handshake's done

[OzMick]

This is a job for the two nation's leaders, Hun Sen and Thaksin.

In fact I'd bet they've made a start already.

More than a start. The handshake's done

I believe the company is called ShinSen, or was it SenShin.

[DaamNaam]

This is a job for the two nation's leaders, Hun Sen and Thaksin.

In fact I'd bet they've made a start already.

yes they have. the deal was done many moons ago.

[BEVUP]

Certaunly has with his many trips to Cambodia about this which inturn has given them the funds to help build a new big port & industrial area

[Soutpeel]

"natural gas in the Gulf of Thailand will be exhausted in the next five years"

May I humbly suggest Khun Songpope Polachan go an get a new job, as very obvious he dont have a clue about what he is talking about, the gulf of Thailand is good for about another 15 years...

Further in the piece he says "Production will be reduced to 1,000 million cu ft/day in the next 20-30 years, he said.

If the gas will run out in the next 5 years..HTF can production carry on for the next 20-30 years !!!

If an agreement is reached, it will take at least 10 years before natural gas can be supplied

why 10 years ?...field infrastructure development and bring greenfields on line typically takes about 3 years...but it may take the other 7 years to negotiate who is getting the little brown envelopes..

Edited January 12, 2013 by Soutpeel

[scotbeve]

"natural gas in the Gulf of Thailand will be exhausted in the next five years"

May I humbly suggest Khun Songpope Polachan go an get a new job, as very obvious he dont have a clue about what he is talking about, the gulf of Thailand is good for about another 15 years...

Further in the piece he says "Production will be reduced to 1,000 million cu ft/day in the next 20-30 years, he said.

If the gas will run out in the next 5 years..HTF can production carry on for the next 20-30 years !!!

If an agreement is reached, it will take at least 10 years before natural gas can be supplied

why 10 years ?...field infrastructure development and bring greenfields on line typically takes about 3 years...but it may take the other 7 years to negotiate who is getting the little brown envelopes..

Agreed, Chevron & CUEL are flat out this year with construction.

[Tatsujin]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

[DaamNaam]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

I've been trying to tell folks on another related thread this fact.

I'm in the business, and was told what was going on 18 months ago.

Taksin and his buddy the Nestle boss are partners in it. Big fat contract worth billions of USD.

[zydeco]

Natural gas estimates have a bad habit of collapsing under the weight of reality. One word: Ladyfern.

[sunshine51]

Sorry wrong thread I guess...I thought it was about just outside the doors to Parliament.

[Cardiff1963]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

would never see incorruptible western governments doing anything like that

[Soutpeel]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

would never see incorruptible western governments doing anything like that

Naah they would never be as subtle...they would just invade someone in the name of freeing the people of that country...

[LaoPo]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

I've been trying to tell folks on another related thread this fact.

I'm in the business, and was told what was going on 18 months ago.

Taksin and his buddy the Nestle boss are partners in it. Big fat contract worth billions of USD.

Which Nestlé Boss are you talking about?

What has Nestlé (the largest food company in the world) to do with Natural Gas exploration in the Gulf of Thailand?

I'm curious...

[Buchholz]

Thailand should take their case to the ICJ

It's difficult to imagine that they wouldn't win the case.

Cambodia's absurd contention of the maritime border is... absurd.

Just a reminder about the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand. See that yellow island that the white line runs through? That yellow island is Thailand's so it doesn't make sense that Cambodia would draw their line out like that. If you were to draw a line at the bottom right corner of the red line all the way to the bottom towards Malaysia, the connection would make sense wouldn't it? So again, why is Yingluck going to Cambodia at the invitation of Hillary and Chevron being present?

The Cambodians didn't draw the absurd line, the French did.

The same as they did at Preah temple, they came up with some ridiculous borderlines, but this maritime border takes the cake for its cock-eyed rendition of a border that juts out as a right angle.

It's not called the Gulf of Cambodia.

[Longtooth]

Thailand should take their case to the ICJ

It's difficult to imagine that they wouldn't win the case.

Cambodia's absurd contention of the maritime border is... absurd.

Just a reminder about the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand. See that yellow island that the white line runs through? That yellow island is Thailand's so it doesn't make sense that Cambodia would draw their line out like that. If you were to draw a line at the bottom right corner of the red line all the way to the bottom towards Malaysia, the connection would make sense wouldn't it? So again, why is Yingluck going to Cambodia at the invitation of Hillary and Chevron being present?

The Cambodians didn't draw the absurd line, the French did.

The same as they did at Preah temple, they came up with some ridiculous borderlines, but this maritime border takes the cake for its cock-eyed rendition of a border that juts out as a right angle.

It's not called the Gulf of Cambodia.

Lovely map here. I think Thailand is being more than fair. For a logical border area, how about a staight line from the corner where Mainland Thailand meets Cambodia at the gulf, to the corner where Mainland Thailand meets Malaysia at the gulf? It includes Thailand's island and gives Thailand credit for vastly more coastline on the Gulf of Thailand than Cambodia has. If the temple dispute is a veiled threat of war, I've got to think Thailand would win that one. French colonial power and borders set up by France during that time seem like ancient history. (Seem like.)

[LaoPo]

Another map:

and another:

and another:

and another:

There's a lot to discuss between the 2 countries

[Thai at Heart]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

Well why dress it up in semantics about some scrub land.

[Tatsujin]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

Well why dress it up in semantics about some scrub land.

Was that a rhetorical question?

[animatic]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

I've been trying to tell folks on another related thread this fact.

I'm in the business, and was told what was going on 18 months ago.

Taksin and his buddy the Nestle boss are partners in it. Big fat contract worth billions of USD.

Which Nestlé Boss are you talking about?

What has Nestlé (the largest food company in the world) to do with Natural Gas exploration in the Gulf of Thailand?

I'm curious...

More like Thaksin and his Russian friends at Gazprom....

[Terry Newman]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

I've been trying to tell folks on another related thread this fact.

I'm in the business, and was told what was going on 18 months ago.

Taksin and his buddy the Nestle boss are partners in it. Big fat contract worth billions of USD.

Interesting discussion, can you link to the other thread here? Is that allowed?

Or can you send me an email with the link, the search function is really funky and not really useful to be honest.

My mind boggles with how much theft from the " treasury " or Thai moms and pops will go on with this project. One might eve think they will push it through really fast before the next election so some people get the contracts.

[animatic]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

Well why dress it up in semantics about some scrub land.

Was that a rhetorical question?

They never tend to go at things directly here,

when an oblique angle can deflect unwanted questions about

who will be profittiing, and how much will NOT go into the public coffers..

[Soutpeel]

For a logical border area, how about a staight line from the corner where Mainland Thailand meets Cambodia at the gulf, to the corner where Mainland Thailand meets Malaysia at the gulf? It includes Thailand's island and gives Thailand credit for vastly more coastline on the Gulf of Thailand than Cambodia has. If the temple dispute is a veiled threat of war, I've got to think Thailand would win that one. French colonial power and borders set up by France during that time seem like ancient history. (Seem like.)

Whose logic...you do know Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia have legal maritime terrority in the Gulf of Thailand as well...you need to look at all the other legal marine boundry's as well, the area in dispute is only "small" portion of the GOT, the 1st map posted by "Laepo" is proberly the best unoffical one...

[Thai at Heart]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

Well why dress it up in semantics about some scrub land.

Was that a rhetorical question?

Well, trying to produce a unified national response over 4sq km brush has to be harder than illustrating that the country stands to lose billions of usd of gas, doesn't it?

[FarangTalk]

If the temple dispute is a veiled threat of war, I've got to think Thailand would win that one.

The Vietnamese would back Cambodia to the hilt and they have the biggest standing army in SEA.

[Soutpeel]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

Well why dress it up in semantics about some scrub land.

Was that a rhetorical question?

Well, trying to produce a unified national response over 4sq km brush has to be harder than illustrating that the country stands to lose billions of usd of gas, doesn't it?

I would add "possibly lose" the reserves in the disputed zone are unproven as yet, granted there may have been limited seismic done, but as far as I know there have been no exploration wells drilled, anyone who has worked the GOT know the geology is fragmented and the reservoirs are small in dimension and even on the Thai side there are still waterwells being drilled or production fizzles out very quickly because well pressures drop too low

Is there Oil & gas there ?....most certainly is it all ecomonically viable ? thats the billion dollar question...quite a bit more to it than digging a hole and sitting back and raking in the money...

Edited January 13, 2013 by Soutpeel

[Buchholz]

Another map:

and another:

and another:

and another:

There's a lot to discuss between the 2 countries

All highlighting the ridiculousness of the Cambodian maritime border claims that the earlier map did. Going out at a right angle from the land mass and laying claim to Thailand's Koh Kood island is not going to get Cambodia very far.

.

[Tatsujin]

This is the real reason why the Thais are disputing the border at the temple.

Well why dress it up in semantics about some scrub land.

Was that a rhetorical question?

Well, trying to produce a unified national response over 4sq km brush has to be harder than illustrating that the country stands to lose billions of usd of gas, doesn't it?

Sure, but saying it's all about "money" ( and potentially what they can skim off the top) doesn't sound so good does it lol . . . you know the way Thai's do things, never straight about these kinds of things, you have to read between the lines.