By an OGJ correspondent
BANGKOK, Sept. 27 -- PTT Exploration & Production PLC (PTTEP) has confirmed a plan to put Arthit gas field in the Gulf of Thailand on stream by February 2008.
This date is a few months behind the expected late-2007 start up due to a shortage of specialty steel for building an offshore gas processing platform on Indonesia's Batam Island.
The delay, coupled with a 14% rise in emission treatment costs for Arthit due to a higher-than-expected amount of sour gas, has inflated the total project cost by 20% to $1 billion, PTTEP reported.
Installations of six wellhead platforms, five interfield gas lines, a condensate line, and other facilities are 95% completed, while the construction of production platform is 90% completed, and will likely be ready to be moved to the field by December.
The field, 230 km east of Songkhla province, is expected to initially produce 300 MMcfd of gas and 22,000 b/d of condensate. Arthit has an estimated full production capacity of 363 MMcfd of gas and 24,000 b/d of condensate.
