BANPU expects overall business growth in the second half of the year due to higher gas and coal sales prices. Meanwhile, the new Thai government expects to accelerate the continuation of the economic stimulus plan.
Mr. Sinin Vongkusolkit, Chief Executive Officer of Banpu Public Company Limited (BANPU), revealed that the changes in leaders of both Thailand and the United States have an impact on business. He expects the new government to push forward policies to stimulate the economy to expand rapidly.
The US presidential election in November will also affect the progress of listing BKV, Banpu’s US subsidiary, on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company is ready but is still waiting for the stock market situation. If the US economy does not recession, it is expected to be clear in the second half of next year.
Previously, BKV sold some non-core upstream and midstream assets in the Marcellus natural gas field in Pennsylvania, USA for approximately USD 132 million. This sale allows BKV to maintain good
financial discipline and focus on developing assets with higher returns.
For the business direction in the second half of this year, it is expected to improve compared to the first half of the year. It was found that the selling prices of both gas and coal have increased. The latest spot market price is currently around 150 US dollars per ton, compared to 135 US dollars per ton in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, the demand for gas in the second half of the year in the United States is expected to increase due to the onset of winter and the decrease in gas supply in the market, resulting in the gas price increasing from the current 2 US dollars per million BTU.
‘We believe that the gas and coal prices are better than in the first half of the year, and the coal sales this year will be in line with the target of 40.8 million tons. In addition, the company is focusing on continuously controlling production efficiency to maintain the ability to generate cash flow, including reducing costs, which will make
Banpu’s overall picture in the latter part of the year better than in the first half of the year,’ said Mr. Sinnont.
For the first half of 2024, the company had total sales revenue of 2,441 million US dollars or approximately 88,425 million baht, total earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 650 million US dollars (approximately 23,547 million baht), and net profit of 69 million US dollars (approximately 2,489 million baht).
The performance of the 3 main business groups in the first half of the year is divided into the energy resource business, focusing on continuously controlling production efficiency to maintain the ability to generate cash flow, with a target to reduce costs in the mining business at 1.5 – 3.0 USD per ton and in the natural gas business at 0.06 – 0.07 USD per thousand cubic feet. In the natural gas business, BKV Corporation (BKV) has signed a carbon-neutral natural gas sales agreement with ENGIE Energy Marketing NA, Inc. and Kiewit Infrastructure South
Co. The carbon credits obtained with BKV’s carbon-neutral natural gas come from the CCUS project and, once certified by the American Carbon Registry, it is expected to be able to deliver such gas by the end of 2024.
For the power generation business group, it continued to generate strong profits. In the thermal power generation business, the natural gas power plants Temple I and II in the United States had significantly higher revenue from electricity sales. For the renewable energy power business, solar power plants in China, Japan, Vietnam and Australia were still able to generate consistent cash flow.
In the energy technology business group, in the first half of 2024, the rooftop solar power generation business signed new contracts to produce and supply electricity to partners in Thailand in various industries, with a total production capacity of 1.9 MW and an additional 4.1 MW of operational capacity. The total investment capacity is currently 100 MW, while a 10 MW solar rooftop power purchase agreement
(Solar Rooftop PPA) was signed in Indonesia. The battery and energy storage system business began operating the lithium-ion battery production line of SVOLT Thailand and delivered the first batch of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) batteries to the largest bus service provider in Thailand.
Source: Thai News Agency