PTT Eyes ASEAN Countries For New Investment

BANGKOK, November 30 (TNA) - PTT Public Company Limited (PTT), Thailand’s largest petroleum firm, has eyed three neighbouring countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines, for its expanding investment projects overseas, as part of Bangkok's preparations for the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. PTT Executive Vice President Saran Rangkhasiri said Wednesday that his company's new investment in the three neighbouring countries will be focused on retail oil, lubrication oil and non-oil businesses. Initially, Saran acknowledged, PTT plans to open new 40 oil stations in each of the three ASEAN neighbouring countries from 2012-2013 with its own combined investment fund of about one billion baht and to later welcome other private firms to join its expanding overseas investment projects. On the domestic front, the PTT executive vice president said his state-supported firm also plans to set up more petrol stations in Bangkok and in the Thai South; while further upgrading existing stations in the country's northern and northeastern regions to become full-circle businesses in the modern energy-related sector. (TNA)