Energy conglomerate Banpu Plc continues to reduce investments in coal, aiming to cut its share of earnings to less than half of total revenue in a shift towards sustainable energy development.
Revenue from the coal trade, which made up 65% of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) last year, should be reduced to less than 50% by 2030, said Sinon Vongkusol, chief executive of Banpu.
Last year gas and power supply businesses both contributed 17%, while energy technology development accounted for 1% of Ebitda, which tallied US$1.33 billion, or roughly 47 billion baht.
Banpu is allocating $3 billion to support business expansion between 2025 and 2029, with a greater focus on gas business, power supply, including power generation from renewables, and carbon capture, utilisation and storage development projects, said Mr Sinon.
The spending aligns with the company's "Energy Symphonics", a synchronised approach of creating new and sustainable energy solutions to address the world's surging energy demand, while simultaneously looking after the planet.
This strategy is expected to increase Ebitda to almost $2 billion by 2030, said Mr Sinon.
The company operates coal businesses in Australia, China and Indonesia. Banpu plans to adopt artificial intelligence and smart mining technology to reduce operating costs and enhance productivity.
The company wants to trim its coal mining costs to $1.50 per tonne of coal this year, following a cost reduction to $3.7 per tonne in 2024.
Total coal sales are expected to increase to 45 million tonnes in 2025, up from 42.7 million tonnes last year.
Banpu is also pursuing a new opportunity related to other natural resources, specifically nickel mining in Indonesia.
Nickel is a key raw material in the production of electric vehicle batteries.
"Our nickel business plan is expected to be concluded by the end of this year," said Mr Sinon.
According to Banpu, up to $500 million would be spent to support investment in non-coal businesses this year, including asset acquisition.
The company sees growth potential for non-coal energy development in the US and Indonesia, following the expansion of data centres and cloud services, which drive up electricity demand.
More power consumption will increase demand for gas, which is used as a fuel for power generation.
Henry Hub natural gas reference prices are likely to increase to $3.5-4 per million British thermal units (BTU) this year, up from $2 per million BTU in 2024.
Banpu runs a gas production business in the US through its subsidiary BKV.
