Thailand Carbon Capture & Storage (CCUS) 2027 Market Intelligence

Operator playbooks

PTTEP CCS Hub: PTTEP is the structural NOC anchor and the only credible storage operator at scale. The Arthit feasibility confirmed 850-1,400 MtCO2 capacity across the Arthit, Erawan, and Bongkot offshore depleted gas reservoirs over 20-30 years. Phase 1 commercial injection targets 2026 with the Arthit field; Phase 2 brings in Erawan and Bongkot through 2028. Tariff is set on a take-or-pay basis with 12-18 year offtake contracts denominated in USD per tonne CO2 stored, anchored at USD 35-55 for high-concentration sources and USD 80-110 for cement flue gas. Strategic significance: PTTEP captures the rent at every tonne moved through the hub, and the BOI Section 8 12-year tax holiday plus the MoNRE liability transfer to the state after a closure period make the equity return materially attractive.

SCG-PTTGC Joint CCUS: announced in late 2025, this JV anchors capture at the SCG Saraburi clinker line and the PTTGC Map Ta Phut petrochemical complex. The joint vehicle owns the capture island and the trunk pipeline tie-in to the PTTEP hub. SCG drives cement decarbonisation under its 2050 net-zero pathway; PTTGC drives petrochemical export-competitiveness under CBAM Phase 2. The JV is the largest single demand cluster outside the natural-gas processing line and is the test case for cement CCS economics at the upper bound of capture cost (USD 80-110 per tonne).

Bangchak Refining CCS: Bangchak's net-zero pathway includes a refinery CCS pre-FEED on the Phra Khanong refinery hydrogen plant plus an SPRC Sriracha integration option. FID targeted for 2026 with first injection in 2027 via the PTTEP hub trunk pipeline. Bangchak's listed-side investment thesis pivots on the CCS execution as a compliance hedge against CBAM-equivalent jet-fuel export penalties from EU and UK buyers. Strategic: Bangchak is the smallest of the refinery CCS lines but the cleanest case study for refinery-captive economics.

IRPC CCS: IRPC's Rayong refinery CCS pilot scales to a 0.5-0.8 MtCO2 per year facility on the hydrogen plant and selected steam-cracker flue-gas streams. The pilot is tied into the PTTEP hub transport network. IRPC's strategic exposure straddles refining and petrochemicals, making it the natural anchor for a combined refinery-petrochemical CCUS line. Captive offtake economics are tighter than Bangchak because IRPC owns more of the integrated value chain and can monetise the CCS-VER credit stack inside the group.

JOGMEC-Equinor Thailand JV: the trilateral JV born from the Q4 2025 MOU brings Japanese state co-financing through JOGMEC, Norwegian operational expertise through Equinor (Northern Lights playbook), and the cross-border architecture to monetise Vietnamese industrial CO2 through Thai storage. The JV operates a parallel storage tranche alongside the PTTEP hub and acts as the technology-transfer vehicle for the broader Thai operator cohort. Strategic significance: foreign credibility on MRV and the international-investor frame for green-bond pricing.

INSEE Cement and TPI Polene: cement is the most carbon-intense sub-sector per tonne of product and the highest-cost source to capture. INSEE's Saraburi cluster sits alongside SCG and is the second-largest cement-CCUS demand point. INSEE has run a clinker-line capture pilot since 2024 and is in late-stage commercial negotiation with the PTTEP hub. TPI Polene is the long-tail third cement player with a smaller CCS readiness. Strategic: cement-CCS is the laboratory for upper-bound capture economics and the natural laggard versus refining and natural-gas-processing CCS.

Unit economics and CCS-VER credit stacking

Capex per tonne of nameplate capture capacity sits at USD 350-550 for natural-gas processing high-CO2 streams (PTT GS-PP), USD 750-950 for refinery hydrogen plants (Bangchak, IRPC, SPRC, Thai Oil), USD 950-1,250 for petrochemical steam-cracker furnace flue gas (PTTGC, IRPC ethylene), and USD 1,150-1,450 for cement clinker (SCG, INSEE, TPI Polene). The cement upper bound reflects the dilute CO2 concentration (15-20 percent versus 80-95 percent for natural-gas processing) and the need for amine post-combustion capture trains at lower regeneration efficiency.

Levelised capture-and-storage cost ranges from USD 35-55 per tonne (PTT GS-PP high-CO2 streams), USD 65-85 (refinery hydrogen plants), USD 90-110 (petrochemical steam-cracker), and USD 95-130 (cement clinker before credit stacking). Transport via the PTTEP hub-and-cluster trunk pipeline is sized at USD 12-18 per tonne for Map Ta Phut sources and USD 18-26 per tonne for Saraburi cement sources requiring inland pipeline plus marine handling.

TGO T-VER CCS-VER stacking on the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles label is the credit-revenue lever that closes the economics for cement and petrochemical sources. TGO published its T-VER CCUS methodology in February 2026 and is in late-stage alignment with ICVCM. CCS-VER stack price is expected at USD 25-45 per tonne in 2027 international voluntary-market clearing, offsetting USD 25-45 per tonne of the levelised cost. The credit is in addition to any CBAM-equivalent rebate that MoFA secures in ASEAN trade negotiations.

On a fully loaded basis after BOI Section 8 incentives (50 percent capex tax credit, 12-year holiday) and TGO CCS-VER stacking, the equity IRR on the PTTEP CCS Hub Phase 1 sits at roughly 11-13 percent, on the SCG-PTTGC joint CCUS at 9-12 percent, on Bangchak Refining CCS at 8-10 percent, and on IRPC CCS at 9-11 percent. EXIM Bank Thailand and ADB Just Transition green and transition bond tranches finance roughly 55-70 percent of the build at coupon rates 80-140 basis points below comparable corporate paper, reflecting the use-of-proceeds premium and the multilateral guarantee structure.