Gulf Energy Development allocates B100bn capital over six years on various energy development projects

Construction News

Gulf Energy Development allocates B100bn capital over six years on various energy development projects

Resulting revenue of B150bn expected

SET-listed Gulf Energy Development, Thailand’s top power generation firm by capacity, plans to spend 100 billion baht over six years on various energy development projects to increase revenues by over 400%.

The projects include power generation fuelled by fossil fuels and renewable resources, as well as infrastructure development plans.

Yupapin Wangviwat, Gulf’s executive director and chief financial officer, said once the capital expenditure is spent, revenues are expected to skyrocket above 150 billion baht. This year the company projects revenue of 37 billion baht.

The spending will increase capacity, calculated as a proportion of Gulf’s shareholding in power plants, to 8.1 gigawatts, from 2.96GW this year.

Part of the budget will go to ongoing development projects and payment for asset acquisitions.

Ms Yupapin said during the second half this year, about 45 billion baht will be allocated to new asset acquisitions, including Borkum Riffgrund 2, a 464-megawatt offshore wind farm in Germany, a joint venture with Denmark-based Orsted Wind Power. This acquisition will cost US$550 million.

The remaining 55 billion baht is planned for domestic and overseas investment during 2021-25.

Sources of funding include bond issuance, long-term loans from financial institutions, a capital increase scheme, internal cash flow and dividends received from subsidiaries and associates.

Last week the company’s shareholders approved increasing capital worth 32 billion baht by selling 1.06 billion shares in the stock market.

Two weeks ago it issued debentures worth 10 billion baht, also part of the six-year capital expenditure.

Gulf’s new development projects in Thailand include two facilities under the independent power producer scheme in Rayong and Chon Buri, each with capacity of 2,650MW. They are expected to operate during 2021-24.

Another domestic project is the 1,400MW gas-fired Hin Kong power plant in Ratchaburi, set to operate during 2024-25.

Two infrastructure projects include third-phase development of the deep-sea port in Map Ta Phut and third-phase development of the deep-sea port in Laem Chabang. Their combined development cost is 41 billion baht.

Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1978899/gulf-allocates-b100bn-capital-for-projects