South East Asia market snapshot - May 2016

There were positive developments in the Thai and Malaysian gas and LNG markets this month. Thailand has been making plans for both LNG infrastructure and supply this month. This includes the approval of a new 5 mmtpa LNG regasification terminal by the Energy Ministry this month with a target start-up date of 2022. To secure more LNG supply, PTT recently signed Cooperation Agreements with KOGAS, Novatek and Gazprom in the past month.  In Malaysia, PETRONAS and PetroVietnam have extended the PM3 CAA production sharing contract for 10 years. Although this increases supply by about 80 mmcfd during the 2017 to 2027 period, this additional supply is far from sufficient to meet the energy needs of Peninsular Malaysia then. We travelled to Malaysia and Thailand this month. A key theme on the ground in Malaysia is market liberalisation whereas in Thailand, the future of the Krabi coal-fired power project remains elusive and the industry feels that EGAT's Thepa will be more likely to be approved.