Thai official: no impact from extending oil concession bid deadline

BANGKOK, February 15 (TNA) - Puangthip Silpasart, director-general of the Energy Ministry’s Mineral Fuels Department, says the deadline for submitting bidding applications for Thailand’s 21st round of oil and gas exploration concessions, scheduled earlier this Wednesday, is likely to be extended. Puangthip said the extension was likely to be discussed during Monday’s meeting of National Energy Policy Committee (NEPC), chaired by Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha. She said Thailand’s energy security would not be impacted even if the deadline was extended for one or two months. The possible extension would be in line with a public referendum due to be held this Friday and to be telecast live, in which the Thai energy official said the government would reserve the right not to grant concessions if returns to the state were found to be unfair. She also said to be fair the government should receive “not less than 70 per cent while the successful concessionaires receive not more than 30 per cent”. Reiterating that bidding for oil and gas exploration concessions were still necessary because national reserves for the energy would “dry in the next seven years”, she said that the country needed to have clear information on petroleum. Deputy Prime Minister Mom Rajawongse Pridiyathorn Devakula said earlier that 13 bidders, including a French firm, would contest in the 21st round of bidding on concessions for oil and gas exploration in Thailand. (TNA)