Thailand's PTTEP claims that every $3 increase in LNG price could raise Thai power prices by up to 5%

The Gastech conference heard from 'Kanita sartwattayu', the incoming CEO of the Thai energy firm PTTEP. She said that every $3 increase in the price of liquefied natgas could result in an 5% rise in the electricity rates.

Sartwattayu said that lowering the price of LNG in Thailand would make it difficult to supply and maintain the gas. Thailand depends on LNG for 30 percent of its electricity generation.

"In?next ten years, if we can't do better than we are doing today, we will probably be relying on LNG 70% of the time." We are trying our best to maintain domestic gas production as much as we can.

For its gas consumption, the?country relies on a mixture of?piped gas, domestic production and LNG imports.

She added that Thailand still had a number of marginal gasfields to develop.

Government data from the six-month period ending June showed that renewables, including solar energy, account for about 10% of Thailand’s electricity generation. Gas, on the other hand, accounts for over 60%.

According to the energy think tank?IEEFA, over a quarter of gas used in electricity production is imported.

Kpler data show that Thailand purchases half of its LNG at the "spot" market. This makes it vulnerable to shocks, such as the surge in LNG price after the U.S., Israel and Iran launched the war against Iran six months earlier.

(source: Reuters)