Thai oil firm to invest $4.8b over five years
Thai oil firm to invest $4.8b over five years
BANGKOK (AFP): The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) said yesterday it would invest 129 billion baht (US$4.8 billion) over the next five years.
About 60 percent of total investment would be spent on exploration and natural gas activities while the rest would go into downstream oil and refinery businesses, a statement said.
Almost 100 billion baht of the budget approved by the PTT board of directors was earmarked for the first three years of the five-year plan, with the budget for 1997 standing at 29.4 billion baht, it said.
PTT said that with domestic energy demand likely to rocket from about 1.1 million barrels a day at present to 1.7 million barrels a day in 2001, Thailand would become increasingly dependent on imported resources.
Energy imports were expected to account for 62 percent of total consumption, up from 56 percent at present, due to limited indigenous supply, PTT said.
About two thirds of imports are used in energy generation. Gas imports were expected rise from nothing at present to 1.2 million cubic feet (36,000 cubic meters) a day in 2001.
A gas pipeline from Burma is expected to come on line in 1998 providing more than 525 million cubic feet (15.75 million cubic meters) a day to Thailand from the offshore Yadana fields in the Gulf of Martaban.
PTT deputy governor Chitrapongse Kwangsukstith was quoted as saying that the natural gas business was also facing increased competition from other energy sources such as coal, lignite and hydroelectric power.
Chitrapongse said the downstream oil business also faced heavier competition with the market share of small service stations gaining ground to take 20 percent of the nation's total from 17 percent last year.
PTT hoped to snap up a 26-percent share of the service station market and hold steady over the next five years at between 22 and 25 percent, he said.
During the five year plan, Chitrapongse said, PTT also hoped to diversify its five refineries into retail businesses as they had been hit by low margins and rising investment costs for environmental reasons.