PTT ramps up drive to reduce CO2 emissions

National oil and gas conglomerate PTT Plc is stepping up efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its businesses by adopting carbon capture technology and preparing to run a trial on hydrogen usage to depend less on fossil fuels.
The aim is to help Thailand achieve carbon neutrality, a balance between carbon dioxide emissions and absorption, by 2050, along with achieving the net-zero target, a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption, by 2065.
PTT Explotration and Production (PTTEP), the petroleum drilling arm of PTT, is pushing ahead with its plan to use carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology to store 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted during the gas production process at the Arthit gas block in the Gulf of Thailand.
In 2020, PTT and its subsidiaries emitted 44.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
“We have yet to conclude what types of storage facilities will be used to store the carbon dioxide, which will be liquefied,” said Kongkrapan Intarajang, president and chief executive of PTT.
He was providing an update on PTT’s ongoing work to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during a forum held on Tuesday in Bangkok on “Net Zero and the Challenges of the New Global Economy”.
CCUS technology is designed to capture carbon dioxide from power plants and industrial operations. The captured carbon dioxide can be compressed and stored in underground geological formations or used to make a variety of products, including some chemicals.
According to PTTEP, the CCUS pilot project is scheduled to commence operations within 2027.
The Gulf of Thailand offers great potential in terms of the storage of carbon dioxide, amounting to roughly 40 million tonnes a year, because, geographically, the terrain is a sink area, which is suitable for the storage of carbon dioxide.
PTTEP earlier announced it had also teamed up with five companies from France and South Korea to produce green hydrogen in Oman.
Green hydrogen, which is used to fuel power generation and manufacturing processes, is produced by using electricity made from renewable energy to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen.
Mr Kongkrapan said PTT is planning to mix hydrogen with gas and use the product as a new fuel for electricity generation by 2030.
This aligns with Thailand’s power development plan, which is aimed at promoting greater use of renewable power. Under the plan, which will be enforced from 2024 to 2037, roughly 5% of gas fuel will be replaced by hydrogen, with this proportion set to increase to 20% between 2035 and 2037.
The use of CCUS and hydrogen is costly, but they will be able to pave the way for PTT to earn more revenue in the long term, said Mr Kongkrapan.