PTT Group, the Thai state-owned oil and gas conglomerate, plans to invest $7 billion in green hydrogen in collaboration with Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy company, ACWA Power. The initiative aims to power clean vehicles in ASEAN nations and push Thailand towards eventually becoming the green energy supplier of the region. PTT’s CEO Auttapol Rerkpiboon said this project is the first step in pushing Thailand to be an international exporter of green power. Furthermore, the initiative will comply with the Thai government’s goals of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2065.

Part of the goal is to power hydrogen electric vehicles in ASEAN.

PTT Group, Thailand’s state-owned oil and gas conglomerate, is set to make a green hydrogen investment with ACWA Power, Saudi Arabia’s leading renewable energy company, to the tune of $7 billion, with the intention to power clean vehicles in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

PTT aims to achieve net-zero emissions of CO2 by 2050.

The green hydrogen investment is one of many of PTT’s various approaches to strike a balance between lower emissions and staying profitable as it attempts to reach its net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide by the year 2050.

“This is the first step to push Thailand to be an international exporter of the green power,” said Auttapol Rerkpiboon, PTT’s CEO, reported Nikkei.

The CEO explained that the objective of the clean energy project is to build a plant in Thailand that will be capable of producing 225,000 tons of green hydrogen annually. This production capacity is about the same as generating an estimated 1.2 million tons of ammonia.

The green hydrogen investment deal is significant for multiple reasons.

Thailand, like many other countries, sees the importance of investing billions into green hydrogen production on a gigawatt scale. Moreover, PTT’s investment, which is part of its net-zero strategy, complies with the Thai government’s commitments to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2065.

However, what makes the green hydrogen investment project deal between PTT and ACWA Power even more notable is that it further advances the restored diplomatic relationship between Thailand and Saudi Arabia, which was halted for just over three decades until 2022.

Mending fences for a clean future.

The diplomatic relations between Thailand and Saudi Arabia cooled more than 30 years ago due to the Blue Diamond Affair, which started with the theft of $20 million worth of jewels in the late 80s. After the two countries began mending their diplomatic relationship in January 2022, Aramco boosted its supply of crude, petrochemical products and LNG to PTT.

Now, the green hydrogen collaboration between PTT and ACWA – two companies joined by the state-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand – is expected to help further mend diplomatic relations between the two nations. Their $7 billion green hydrogen investment pledge is a step forward in realizing their joint green H2 production project goals.

“The project is aimed at generating recognition of green hydrogen as a future energy source to create demand,” said PTT’s CEO, who added that the plan is to push “Thailand toward eventually becoming the green energy supplier of the ASEAN region.”