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.