KrisEnergy to be allowed to export crude oil from Wassana field
KRISENERGY will be allowed to export crude oil from its Wassana oilfield in the Gulf of Thailand if local oil refineries cannot refine the raw materials, said Energy Minister Anantaporn Kanjanarat.
The end of the export ban on crude oil will also be applied to any company facing a similar situation, he said.
Veerasak Pungrassamee, deputy director-general of the Mineral Fuels Department, said crude oil extracted from the Wassana field contained heavy metals and other materials, such as nitrogen, that local refineries might not be able to handle.
KrisEnergy, a Singapore-based independent upstream oil and gas company, commenced production from the Wassana oilfield in the G10/48 concession in the Gulf of Thailand on August 14.
Earlier, the Ministry of Energy had asked for cooperation from oil companies to refrain from exporting crude from local fields, in effect amounting to a ban.
Veerasak said KrisEnergy had so far been keeping the crude oil in a floating tanker. However, the tanker would reach its capacity by December as the company was producing 4,000 barrels a day.
KrisEnergy holds an 89-per-cent working interest in G10/48, with the remaining 11 per cent owned by Palang Sophon Offshore. KrisEnergy had announced that oil production from the Wassana field was expected to peak at about 10,000 barrels per day, when new development drilling started.
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