Singapore — Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production posted a marginal 2% increase in third quarter oil and gas sales volumes on the back of its larger ownership of the Bongkot Project, the largest natural gas field in the Gulf of Thailand, the company said late Thursday.
PTTEP’s oil and gas sales for the quarter ended September 30 rose to 304,940 boe/d, from 298,139 boe/d the same period last year.
“PTTEP focuses on maintaining the production level with the estimated sales volume for full-year 2018 of around 310,000 boe/d,” the company said in a statement, adding that the sales volumes outlook is based on its additional participating interest in the Bongkot field.
In January, PTTEP had acquired a 22.22% stake in the Bongkot Project from subsidiaries of Royal Dutch Shell for around $750 million, taking its stake to 66.67%. It had said the deal would add 35,000 boe/d of sales volume immediately accretive to its cash flow.
PTTEP is the operator of the Bongkot project with the remaining stake owned by Total. The Bongkot concession expires in 2022-2023 and PTTEP said it has submitted a renewal for Bongkot, while a separate submission for the Erawan fields has been done in partnership with Mubadala Petroleum’s Thailand unit. The bidding results are expected by year-end.
“In the meanwhile, the company endeavors to accelerate its exploration activities and capture merger and acquisition opportunities in Southeast Asia and the Middle-East,” PTTEP said.
For the fourth quarter, the national oil company said it expects Dubai crude prices to remain volatile in the range of $75-$90/b due to US sanctions on Iran, restrictions on Venezuela’s oil sector making it difficult for it to pay for oil port repairs and bottlenecks in US crude production throughout this year.
PTTEP posted third quarter net profit of $315 million compared to a loss of $264 million a year earlier, attributed to higher oil prices and sales volumes. The average selling price increased to $47.67/boe compared with $38.78/boe last year. Total revenue rose to $1.398 billion from $1.134 billion a year earlier.
MOZAMBIQUE LNG
PTTEP has an 8.5% stake in the Mozambique LNG Project, in which Anadarko is the operator with a 26.5% interest, and other partners include Mitsui, ONGC Videsh, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, Bharat PetroResources and Oil India.
The Mozambique Rovuma Offshore Area 1 Project has made significant progress in the third quarter and the construction of the onshore LNG plant and the long term LNG Sale and Purchase Agreements with potential buyers are being finalized, PTTEP said.
“In parallel, the project is negotiating for project finance with financial institutions in order to support the Final Investment Decision in H1 2019, with planned first phase of production at 12 [million mt/year] starting in 2023,” it added.
PTTEP said the global LNG market remains oversupplied in the third quarter, but the global LNG price is expected to improve due to robust Chinese demand in the coming winter season.
For the fourth quarter, average Asian spot LNG prices are estimated at $7.6-$10.3/MMBtu, but prices could fluctuate depending on supply delays, higher-than-expected LNG demand and national energy policies that boost gas demand.
