Government of Thailand Wants Natural Gas Producers to Reduce Prices.

Byline: Yuthana Praiwan

Aug. 1--The government intends to negotiate with all natural gas producers for price reductions of at least 7 percent or a total of 5.6 billion baht over the life of existing sales contracts.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday attended the signing of an agreement between the Petroleum Authority of Thailand and three major operators in the Bongkot gas field in the Gulf of Thailand: PTT Exploration and Production Plc, TotalFinaElf of France and the British Gas Group.

Mr Thaksin conceded that energy concession contracts in Thailand had made the state a captive customer for too long, as seen by the continued rise in local energy prices.

"We've failed to drive a hard bargain even though all along we have bought petroleum products in amounts that exceeded the levels required under the contracts," he said.

However, any future bargaining with concession holders would be within the framework of their contracts, he said. "We won't breach any contracts. What we will bargain will be under the agreements."Under yesterday's agreement, the PTT will purchase 31.14 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Bongkot field from August until May at 99 baht per million British Thermal Units (BTU), a 23 ...