Reopen talks to Cambodia over OCA to secure energy supply

Report: Chatrudee Theparat

Reopen talks to Cambodia over OCA to secure energy supply

Erawan and Bongkot gas fields in the gulf of Thailand.

Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow is considering using natural gas from overlapping claims area (OCA) to serve its national demand for the next 10 years, aimed at securing its ongoing consumption amid the soaring energy price and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

OCA is located in the Gulf of Thailand between Thailand and Cambodia. Energy Minister Supattanapong said so far the foreign ministry has established a committee to resume its talks and look into ways to develop jointly OCA with Cambodian counterpart.

 “Thai government has already prepared its groundwork for the project-the pipeline and other facilities, once the talks to be finalized, the natural gas from OCA would be supplied to domestic market for the next ten years, which helps secure its consumption from running out of natural gas production from other gas fields,” he said.  

Mr Supattanapong said if the talks is finalized, it will create benefits both Cambodia and Thailand amid an uncertain outlook of global energy supply. Compared to the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area (JDA) project, the talks took up to 25 years to reach the conclusion.

JDA covers an area of about 7,250 square kilometres, formed by overlapping continental shelf claims between the two countries. The heart of JDA lies about 180 km from the shores of Pattani province, 260 km from the shores of Songkhla, and 150 km from Kota Bahru in Kelantan State of Malaysia.

The government has also negotiated with Malaysia to purchase more natural gas from JDA which is cheaper than importing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the US and Europe.  

The government planned to look for solutions to solve energy crisis caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and also put a big attempt to achieve a target of carbon neutrality.

“Negotiating with Cambodia is partly the government’s effort in preparation for securing its energy supply in long term and also reducing carbon following its initial plan,’’ he said.

Thailand took a bold step forward at the UN Climate Change conference (COP 26) in 2021, with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declaring the country’s aim to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and net zero greenhouse gas emissions by or before 2065.

Mr Supattanapong said the government planned to increase renewable energy under Power Development Plan (PDP) 2022 to no less than 50%, up from 30% previously. The draft will be completed by this October, while the PDP 2022 will take effective by early 2023. The policy is able to reduce energy import and also cope with carbon neutrality policy.

For electric vehicle (EV), he said a proportion of EV production in Thailand may surpass a target of 30% of domestic EV manufacturing in 2030 because there are 4-5 EV assemblers established in Thailand. The EV production is estimated to have quick demand because of higher fossil energy.