BANGKOK, Dec 25 (TNA) – Thai Oil Public Company Limited (TOP), Thailand’s largest oil refinery firm, is injecting a new investment fund of about 4.7 billion US dollars to develop its Clean Fuel Project (CFP) over the next four years, aimed to increase its production capacity of jet fuel in order to sufficiently meet the domestic demand for at least 5-10 years.
TOP Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President Atikom Terbsiri announced the new investment on Tuesday, noting that the CEP is part of his company’s new investment plan of about 5.16 billion US dollars during 2019-2023.
Atikom said the development of CEP, once completed, it will increase his company’s production capacity of refined fuel for aircraft to about 400,000 barrels a day, from about 275,000 barrels a day currently.
Atikom explained that his company’s investment in the CEP is considered necessary to cater for the rising domestic demand for jet fuel amid rising flights in line with the expanding Thai tourism and Thai airports, stressing that the CEP, set to start its operation in 2023, should evade Thailand from relying on imported jet fuel for at least 5-10 years.
The TOP CEO and president foresaw, however, that Thailand may need to import aircraft fuel for a short period in 2022, indicating that the domestic demand for jet fuel stood at about 21 million liters a day in the first half of this year and about 17-18 million liters a day in the second half of this year, or about 5.9 per cent year-on-year increase on average in 2018, and that the domestic demand for jet fuel in 2019 should further increase by about 3.1 per cent year-on-year on average.
The TOP CEO and president revealed that the CEP will be financed by his company’s cash account of about 60-70 billion baht, while the rest of about 32 billion baht, or about one billion US dollars, will come from his company’s issuance of corporate bonds or debentures.
The TOP CEO and president told journalists, meanwhile, that his company will also use another investment fund of 400-500 million US dollars to improve corporate infrastructure, namely a port and crude oil depots, while the remaining fund of about 651 million US dollars will be used for the development of a new 250 megawatt-power plant, to be soon contracted for its construction and operation by Global Power Synergy Public Company Limited (GPSC), a subsidiary of PTT Public Company Limited (PTT), Thailand’s largest petroleum firm. (TNA)
