Thailand hopes to negotiate a delay in the start of maintenance to gas platforms in Myanmar to avoid potential power shortages in April, says Energy Minister Energy Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal.
The country stands to lose 25% of its total natural gas supply during the maintenance shutdown scheduled for April 4-12. That could place a severe strain on electricity plants at the peak of the hot season when power demand is at its highest.
If the start of maintenance could be delayed for just a few days, say to April 7 or 8, it could make a big difference, Mr Pongsak said on Saturday on the "Yingluck Government Meets the People" TV programme.
The reason is that power demand normally falls during the long Songkran holiday. Civil servants will have holidays from April 12-16 while many private companies plan holidays from April 13-17.
Natural gas accounts for 70% of the fuel used in electricity generation in Thailand, which consumes about 4.4 billion cubic feet a day of gas.
Supplies from the Yadana and Yetagun gas fields off the coast of Myanmar average about 1.1 billion cubic feet a day.
Mr Pongsak said on Friday that efforts would be made to shift from gas to fuel oil and diesel to fuel power plants.
In any case, he said, Thai people needed to do more to save energy and the government needed to do more to promote conservation, regardless of the time of year.
Damage to the Thailand-Malaysia gas pipeline caused by an anchor earlier cut the gas supplies by 270 million cubic feet per day but service has now been restored.
"We have faced [gas shortage] situations in the past but the severity was not as much as the upcoming one will be," he said in reference to the April shutdown.
"Thai people should realise that we depend too much on diminishing natural gas while the country cannot build more hydro or coal power plants or extend natural gas concessions.
"It's time for all of us to jointly make decisions for the country. There is also no plan for a nuclear power plant as the country still doesn't have sufficient studies about it."
The two major users of natural gas - the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc - are also being urged to increase their fuel reserves in preparation for the disruption of supplies from Myanmar.
PTT Plc has already talked to Malaysia's Petronas and France's Total - the operators of gas production from Yadana and Yetagun - about postponing scheduled maintenance until closer to the long holidays in mid-April.
Thailand faced severe problems in 2009 when gas supply disruption from Myanmar occurred without advance warning.
The incident prompted Egat immediately to expand the capacity of hydroelectric power plants to maximum levels.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/02/16/gas-shutdown-delay-sought/
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