Myanmar received $2 billion in energy investments
The Thai company PTTEP will invest $2 billion in Myanmar’s energy sector. The funds will be used to develop gas fields, as well as to build a power plant.
PTTEP hopes that the investment will provide Myanmar with great opportunities in the production and use of natural gas, providing an affordable source of energy.
The project is part of the country’s development strategy and implementation of modern energy solutions. According to this plan, by 2030 the entire population of Myanmar should be provided with affordable electricity.
PTTEP’s investments will result in the construction of a gas-fired power plant with a capacity of approximately 600 megawatts. In addition, the Thai company plans to build a pipeline that will connect the field and the power plant. Its length will be 370 km. The object will be located near Yangon – the largest city in the country.
Late last year, PTTEP signed an exclusive agreement with the government of Myanmar to develop the new gas field. According to the agreement, the company will undertake the extraction of raw materials, which will go to the development of the power grid inside the country.
Four fields have been discovered offshore Myanmar, one of which is already being developed. The latter is 80% owned by the Thai PTTEP. Although the country needs more gas, until recently Myanmar supplied Thailand and China with almost 80% of its gas production. The government used the proceeds from resource exports to replenish foreign currency reserves. However, the country is actively developing, which requires more electricity. And while previously the hydropower sector was able to cope with the tasks, in the last few years the lack of resources is felt more and more acutely and slows down the pace of industrialization.
PTTEP is part of PTT Public Company, the largest oil and gas corporation in Thailand. It is also ranked among the top 20 global suppliers of raw materials. PTT’s business areas include gas exploration, coal mining, pipeline construction, and the production and sale of electricity, fuel, and lubricants.
The corporation has been on the market since 1978 and is state-owned, with subsidiaries located around the world, including Australia, the United States, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Canada and others.
PTT supports environmental strategy by investing in renewable energy sources, ethanol production, construction of solar power plants. The company owns palm oil production facilities in Indonesia and invests in hydropower in Laos.
However, despite its support for the environment, the company has been implicated in environmental scandals on more than one occasion. One of them occurred in 2009, when an oil spill occurred on a platform in the Timor Sea.
