PTTEP expands overseas investment

BANGKOK, January 8 (TNA) - PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), a subsidiary of PTT Public Company Limited (PTT), Thailand's largest petroleum firm, plans to expand its overseas investment projects, including those in the United States and Brazil, for the sake of national energy security. PTTEP President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tevin Vongvanich told reporters that PTTEP now plans to increase its petroleum production to 600,000 barrels per day and it is, therefore, expanding its investment into more energy sources, including shell gas and shell oil fields in the United States in the form of a joint venture, in which it plans to hold at least a 20 per cent stake. Besides, Tevin said, PTTEP will also form a joint venture with BG Group of Britain to operate at four deep-water oil deposits in Brazil. Tevin acknowledged that PTTEP may sell its share in the Oil Sands Project in Canada, which produces 16,000 barrels of oil per day, or ask its partner to enhance productivity to lower relatively high costs, compared with shell oil production costs. According to the PTTEP president, his company has, so far, invested in 45 projects in 12 countries to serve Thailand's energy demand and to increase his company's petroleum production from 292,000 barrels to about 500,000 barrels per day by 2020. For the company's new five-year investment plan from 2014-2018 in Thailand and foreign countries, totally worth 27.28 billion US dollars, about 50 per cent of which is aimed at maintaining its local petroleum production and the rest will go to overseas projects.(TNA)