PTT will increase the reception capacity of its liquefied-petroleum-gas depot in Chon Buri at a cost of Bt2.3 billion if its sixth gas-separation plant cannot commence commercial operations within six months.
However, executive vice president Nattachart Jaruchinda said if the sixth plant could begin commercial operations sooner, the company would use a floating terminal in the meantime, costing Bt1 million a day, to accommodate more LPG imports.
The Chon Buri depot investment would double its LPG-reception capacity, and a 6,000-tonne LPG compression tank would be installed.
The company's sixth gas-separation plant is one of the 64 suspended industrial projects in the Map Ta Phut area of Rayong province. If it is further delayed, PTT will have to import 100,000 tonnes of LPG a month. However, its Chon Buri terminal can presently accommodate only 88,000 tonnes.
The floating terminal, which arrived last week, is now in temporary use and requires ship-to-ship loading and transport.
Between April 2008 and last month, imports of LPG totalled 1.3 million tonnes, worth more than Bt30 billion.
Prajya Phinyawat, chief operating officer for downstream business, said the sixth gas-separation plant, which had the capacity to handle 1 million tonnes a year, was ready to produce LPG. The final stages of bringing it on stream have been stopped by the environmental issue. If it is able to start, it will reduce imports and the Oil Fund's subsidies.
Prajya said the best way to end the present shortage was to raise LPG prices to global levels.
Against a world price of US$735 (Bt24,400) per tonne, or Bt25 a kilogram, the domestic price is capped at $333, or Bt18.13 a kilogram. PTT must shoulder the difference and await reimbursement.
An Energy Ministry source estimates demand for LPG will reach 5.49 million tonnes this year, compared with a combined domestic production capacity of 3.76 million tonnes. Some 1.73 million tonnes must be imported.
Since 2008, when Thailand first became a net importer of LPG, the Oil Fund has paid Bt15 billion in subsidies to PTT and owes the company another Bt7 billion.
Inspecting the floating terminal yesterday, Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said there were no plans at this moment to raise the price of LPG.
He said this would be reconsidered after August.
Wannarat said shouldering the difference was part of PTT's corporate social responsibility.
