Four firms state gas block intentions

Four large exploration and production companies have submitted intention documents to access the auction data for the Erawan and Bongkot gas blocks after passing the pre-qualification process, said the Mineral Fuels Department.

Three are existing operators — Chevron Thailand Holdings Ltd, PTTEP Energy Development Co and Total E&P Thailand — while Japan’s Mitsui Oil Exploration Co came on as Chevron’s partner.

Chevron, PTTEP and Mitsui will join the auction for both gas blocks — Erawan (G 1/61) and Bongkot (G 2/61) — while Total will join only the Erawan block auction.

The department said four companies have already paid the fee to join the auction, with a combined value of 49 million baht, and they also signed private confidentiality agreements for the auction data usage.

Two other firms have passed the pre-qualification process: Mubadala from United Arab Emirates and OMV Group from Austria. The intention document submission period ends on June 1 at 4.30pm.

All investors can access the data room from June 7 to Sept 21. The department has set Sept 25 as the deadline for investors to submit their bidding proposals.

The winning bidders will be announced in December.

Chevron is in charge of the Erawan block, with 1,240 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD), with the concession expiring in April 2022. PTTEP and Total operate the Bongkot block with 870 MMSCFD, whose concession expires in March 2023.