US supermajor Chevron’s dispute with the Thai government over decommissioning offshore platforms and facilities from the Erawan field has far-reaching implications for the kingdom’s upstream sector, writes Amanda Battersby.

The issue is simple: Chevron believes it is just responsible for decommissioning unusable infrastructure on its Erawan gas field, which is being taken over by state player PTTEP in 2022.

However, the Thai government’s stance is that Chevron will also be responsible for the future decommissioning of all the Erawan facilities that it installed; even those to be transferred to PTTEP.