PTT requests for specification of new gas pipeline area

BANGKOK, February 7 (TNA) - PTT Public Company Limited (PTT), Thailand’s largest petroleum firm, has asked concerned authorities, including the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), to help specify an exact construction area for its new gas pipeline urgently so that there will be no delay in the opening of the country's five new power plants. PTT Vice President Attapol Rerkphiboon told journalists on Saturday that the five new electricity plants have a combined capacity of about 2,000 megawatts, while the pipeline construction is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter this year. Attapol said his company is sorry for damage to local herb plantations resulted from the laying of its fourth gas pipeline, as claimed by the Chao Phraya Apai Phubet Hospital Foundation in Prachin Buri Province in the Thai East. Attapol requested the Chao Phraya Apai Phubet Hospital Foundation to allow PTT to inspect the claimed damage, as his company is prepared to compensate for the damage. Attapol acknowledged that requests have been made for PTT to have an opportunity to inspect the claimed damage, but they were rejected by the foundation. Stressing that Bentonite, claimed by the foundation, is non-toxic chemical, Attapol stated, however, that PTT is ready to change the construction area, if specified by the concerned authorities. The PTT vice president noted that his firm needs to lay the 4th pipeline underground, or through the horizontal directional drilling system, in order to cause least possible damage in the area. The foundation in 2013 refused to receive compensation offered by PTT and filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court. (TNA)