Thailand, RI plan oil deal

Thailand, RI plan oil deal

BANGKOK (AP): The Thai and Indonesian state-owned oil
companies are negotiating a deal to exchange oil products, the
Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) said yesterday.

Both Thailand and Indonesia are grappling with economic
crises.

Thailand wants to exchange refined diesel oil for Indonesian
crude or naphtha oil, a spokesman for PTT said.

Thailand has a surplus of refined crude, which Indonesia
needs. Indonesia, meanwhile, has plenty of crude and naphtha,
which Thailand is in short supply of.

Naphtha can be used to produce petrochemicals such as olefins
and aromatics.

Officials from Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil company,
will arrive in Bangkok next week to arrange the details of the
deal.

PTT also said that domestic demand for petroleum products fell
by 8.4 percent during the first half of 1998. Consumption of
refined oil fell by 11.4 percent.