Thailand’s upstream revival picks up speed
The Southeast Asian producer has reversed declining output and is pushing on with a deepwater-focused new bidding round
Thailand’s upstream sector is gathering momentum after the country reversed an almost decade-long decline in oil and gas production in 2024. Policymakers are moving quickly to consolidate those gains, announcing plans for a deepwater-focused 26th oil and gas bid round just weeks after bids closed for the country’s onshore 25th licensing round. At the heart of this resurgence is a state-driven strategy to rebuild capacity in a sector once seen as in structural retreat. Since 2017, Thailand has shifted from a concession-based model to a more flexible licensing regime and placed state-owned PTTEP at the centre of its upstream ambitions. What once seemed like resource nationalism is now translat
Also in this section
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution
