Thailand: Myanmar earthquake impact on Thai LNG bid

In 2024, Thailand’s natural gas pipeline imports from Myanmar accounted for 10% of the market’s total supply. In part, multi-year declines in pipeline flows from Myanmar have supported Thailand’s LNG bid, which averaged 12mtpa (45mmcmd) in 2024 – a level similar to LNG imports into the Netherlands.

According to Thai media reports, Thailand’s state-owned energy company, PTT, has publicly commented that there is so far no disruption to its pipeline imports from its northern neighbor in spite of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday. While Myanmar’s upstream and midstream natural gas infrastructure may have avoided adverse impact, it remains to be seen what the earthquake’s social and political consequences will be in the coming weeks and months. Prior to the earthquake, Myanmar was already embroiled in a multi-year civil war estimated to have displaced multiple millions of civilians and killed over seventy-five thousand people. Importantly for Thailand’s energy sector, the civil war has also resulted in an erosion in upstream investment in Myanmar’s domestic natural gas production.

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