There was an article in the BKK Post last week that had caught my attention, here are the facts:

• Thailand is running out of natural gas – “Thailand’s natural gas resources are declining as an expansion of Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy increases demand and state energy subsidies encourage consumption. The country’s proven natural gas reserves plunged 43% over the past decade to 8.41 trillion cubic feet, from 14.75 trillion in 2003, data from the Department of Mineral Fuels shows.”
• Thailand imports almost all of its oil – Thailand imported 85% of its crude oil use of 1 million barrels a day last year. It consumed 4.82 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas, with 20% coming from Myanmar and about 4% from imports of liquefied natural gas, according to government data. Natural gas from local sources totalled 3.66 billion cubic feet a day, equivalent to 76% of demand.
• Chevron has a vice grip on Thailand’s gas – Chevron Corp., which has explored petroleum fields in Thailand since 1962, supplies about half of Thailand’s gas demand, according to the company’s website.
• Wait a minute, this sounds like theres a helluva lot of gas in the Gulf of Thailand – “Thailand’s government resumed talks two weeks ago with neighbouring Cambodia on overlapping claims in the Gulf of Thailand, Narongchai said. Development of the 26,000 sq-kilometre area, more than twice the size of Qatar, has been stalled for more than three decades. Pichai Naripthaphan, a former Thai energy minister, said the disputed zone may contain enough gas to secure Thailand’s supply for 50 years.”

By the looks of the last point there, it appears that there’s a massive amount of gas waiting to be sourced, a potential reason for the all this political fighting in the past decade?

Source: Bangkok Post