PTTEP has agreed to participate in a few projects for the Northern Gulf of Thailand, with the overall goal being to study the carbon storage potential within this area. The company will work with many partnerships throughout this study, including INPEX who will help them find and build a pathway towards various Net Zero goals.

The project will focus primarily on the research and work conducted by both the Thai Department of Mineral Fuels (DMF) and Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC). This study aims to find solutions for the potential development of CCS Hubs within the Eastern Economic Corridor of Thailand (EEC). PTTEP will work alongside this project and will take the lead for the feasibility study connected to the PTT Group’s Eastern Thailand CCS Hub initiative, based in the EEC. The purpose of this project will be to reduce the carbon emissions sites in the Rayong and Chonburi provinces, where these groups are operating. The project will also focus on reducing the Co2 emissions from nearby industrial areas and they will do this through the use of CCS technology and the storage potential found within the Gulf of Thailand.

A second research project performed by PTTEP whilst they are in partnership, will be looking at the development and progress of the first CCS project in Thailand, which is based at the Arthit gas field, also in the Gulf of Thailand. This project is at the point where its Front-End-Engineering Design (FEED) phase is now complete and the project expects to begin CCS operation in 2027. Once the project starts operating in the Arthit field, the expectation will be for it to reduce gas production emissions by 700,000-1,000,000 tons every year.

Altogether these two projects, the EEC Arthit field and the Northern Gulf of Thailand CCS Exploration project, have a shared aim to gain further insight and understanding around the storage capacity available to them in these areas. Then taking this knowledge, the projects aim to find and develop techniques to aid Thailand in its mission to meet its Net Zero greenhouse gas emission target by 2065.

Chief Executive Officer of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), Mr. Montri Rawanchaikul, commented, “PTTEP is pleased to work alongside INPEX in this study. We have unique knowledge in the subsurface of the Gulf of Thailand and experiences from our CCS initiative at the Arthit gas field. Combined with INPEX’s international experience in CCS project implementation, we believe the study outcome will equip Thailand with necessary insights and information to outline CCS infrastructure and development plan, especially the CCS Hub initiative for the EEC, as CCS is one of the promising pathways that could substantially reduce industry’s carbon emissions and keep the country’s Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions goals within reach.”