Guided by our Sustainability Framework, PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited’s (PTTEP) mission is to provide national energy security while maintaining the right balance of economic, social, and environmental aspects, and conserving and supporting marine ecosystems and coastal communities.

Improving ocean biodiversity to enable sustainable livelihoods

As most of PTTEP’s operations are offshore, we aspire to create development opportunities for the sustainable livelihoods of coastal communities in 17 provinces along the Gulf of Thailand (GoT) through our strength in operational locations, technology capabilities, and deep collaborations.

To turn this aspiration into action, PTTEP initiated the “Ocean for Life” project and developed long-term sustainability targets to improve the biodiversity of marine ecosystems. This project thus focuses on achieving positive impact on the ocean, improving biodiversity ecosystem services' value, increasing target communities’ income by 50%, and establishing 16,000 significant ocean conservation networks.

These ambitious goals subsequently contribute to Thailand’s overarching Ocean Health Index target and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14: “Life Below Water” to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.

The “Ocean for Life” project comprises of three workstreams.

1. Sustainable Ocean-Friendly Operations – PTTEP has pursued various endeavours to ensure an environmentally friendly operation and a zero spill and zero discharge performance. Furthermore, we have continued plans to install retired platform jackets as artificial reefs in approved areas from 2025 onwards. We have additionally achieved a remarkable milestone of zero produced water discharge into the environment for all operations in Thailand while ensuring minimal risk of ocean contamination from produced water across operating platforms. Indeed, our spill performance record has consistently surpassed the International Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) benchmark, showcasing our dedication to excellence. We are therefore continuing to explore innovative technologies to uphold clean and environmentally friendly operations
   
   
   
2. Sustainable Ocean Health and Blue Carbon Solutions – The development of PTTEP’s Ocean Data Platform has significantly contributed to the depth of Thailand’s existing ocean database. The meteorological and oceanographic data gathered from our offshore petroleum platforms and other information from various projects under the Ocean for Life Strategy are used as inputs to ensure environmental impact assessment report accuracy and support ocean conservation, emergency planning and the development of early warning systems. This includes the enhancement of ocean mathematical models such as marine debris dispersion prediction, climate change impact monitoring, and potential impact to ecosystems. Alternatively, our microplastics baseline and monitoring study, marked the world’s first attempt in using petroleum platforms as stations to collect ocean waste and microplastic data. Our use of current mapper buoys and satellite tracking technology also marks Thailand’s first study of ocean currents and oceanographic data in the GoT.
   
   To conserve the world’s most effective carbon sinks, feasibility studies for carbon dioxide absorption of seagrass, seaweed and seashell are underway with promising outcomes to advance blue carbon solutions. Mangrove reforestation has additionally been completed of 5,007 râi of land (1 râi = 1,600 square meters) against 45,000 râi of land targets. We have also developed curing technology for carbon sequestration in artificial reefs to lower GHG emissions. This technology chemically converts CO2 into calcium carbonate or limestone embedded in concrete material. This viable and environmental-friendly technology not only helps improve biodiversity abundance, but also benefits tourism and coastal communities’ economy in a sustainable manner.
   
   
   
3. Sustainable Community around the Ocean – Finally, we have cultivated community activities in 17 provinces around the GoT to increase biodiversity, restore natural resources, and build ocean conservation networks. For example, we have developed a youth network through our natural resources and environment conservation camps and created jobs to sustainably improve community income. To date, we have achieved 44.7% of net positive impact on ocean biodiversity and ecosystem services value in all offshore operations compared to base year 2019. We have also established 11 aquatic animal hatchery learning centers and seafood product value enhancement groups in 10 of the 17 provinces along GoT to enhance the abundance of marine animals and expand the coastal conservation area in target locations. Moreover, 25 fish homes were placed covering 12.8 square kilometers of coastal conservation areas. This aided in advancing increasing the income of target communities participating in the projects by 20.5% on average compared to baseline data before project implementation. These combined efforts have consequently improved the utilisation of ocean resources and increased conservation awareness of a network of 3,903 local fishermen along GoT.

Enhancing commercial sea products to uplift the coastal community's well-being and income opportunity.

Harnessing AI and robotics for long-term success

Technology and innovation are undeniable factors crucial to ensuring the success of “Ocean for Life”. PTTEP, in partnership with AI and Robotics Ventures Company Limited (ARV), a PTTEP wholly owned subsidiary, has developed cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics technologies which are now commercialised, such as XPlorer, a subsea pipeline inspection-class autonomous underwater vehicle, and Nautilus, the world’s first autonomous robot for subsea pipeline repair. These technologies accelerate research and technology development to enhance business efficiency across industries, and to create simplified solutions to business challenges for the Exploration and Production (E&P) business and other industries outside the energy sector.

XPlorer, a subsea pipeline inspection-class autonomous underwater vehicle, developed by ARV, a PTTEP wholly owned subsidiary.

Alongside these innovations, PTTEP has implemented underwater camera installation & AI software development for the identification of aquatic animals underneath offshore petroleum platforms to identify iconic species to promote national conservation efforts to increase the population and survival rate of aquatic species. As one of Thailand’s leaders in ocean conservation and rehabilitation, we recognise the significance of utilising technology for business and sustainable value creation and thus offer opportunities for authorities, researchers and industry leaders to tackle biodiversity and carbon sink issues in support of our fight against climate change.