Thaioil plans more investment toward AEC

BANGKOK, June 14 (TNA) - Thaioil Public Company Limited or Thaioil announced Thursday that it will invest up to 1.85 billion US dollars over the next five years, from 2012- 2016, in preparation for the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. When announcing the plan, Veerasak Kositpaisal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Thaioil, said of the sum, 989 million US dollars will go to projects which have already been approved by the company's board and the rest 856 million US dollars will go to projects which are being studied and have not yet to be presented to the board for approval. Veerasak acknowledged that the new investment projects are aimed at increasing the values of existing products and raising the gross integrated margin (GIM) of every Thaioil product, which will also prepare the company for the formation of the AEC, where a large market and expanded business opportunities will be created. According to the Thaioil CEO, the new investment expansion will go along with that of PTT Public Company Limited, Thailand's largest petroleum firm and Thaioil's largest stake holder, focusing on projects in neighbouring Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam. The CEO revealed that the Thaioil's new investment projects include those in refineries, additional infrastructure including pipelines and tanks, consulting on refinery business and petrochemical products, and that negotiations have now started with Indonesia's Pertamina Co. To respond to the AEC, Thaioil will also invest in expanding its fleets to transport petroleum and petrochemical products to serve the products of Thaioil and other companies under the PTT Group. At present, Thaioil possesses one very large crude carrier (VLCC) and will acquire three more carriers to support cargo transportation by sea to other member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). (TNA)