PTTGC aims bigger presence in Asean

 Veerasak Kositpaisal, CEO of PTTGC - now Asean's second largest petrochemical firm, said yesterday that the new investment will focus both in petro-based chemical and bio-based chemical businesses, under the investment plan until 2020.
“PTTGC is designed as a petrochemical business flagship of PTT Group. Our focus from now rests on the petrochemical business, not refining," he said.
The investment plan was completed after the merger of PTT Chemical (PTTCH) and PTT Aromatics (PTTAR) and Refining. PTTGC was created from the merger.
 Indonesia is in the focus, thanks to the population size. The Philippines and Vietnam are highlighted as the interesting markets for petrochemical exports, with nearly 200 million population.
 “PTTGC will earn more revenue from overseas business. Our new investment will be overseas and Asean is our main destination," Veerasak said.
 With debt-to-equity ratio of 0.4 time against the 1:1 ceiling, the company has huge capacity to invest. While the combined revenue of PTTCH and PTTAR in 2010 was around Bt320 billion, that would rise to Bt400 billion this year, he added.  
 Despite aggressive business expansion plan, Veerasak said PTTGC did not set a concrete target to replace Petronas Chemical as the region's largest petrochemical company.
 PTTGC has a capacity of 8.26 million tonnes per year for petrochemical products including olefins, aromatics and plastic pellets, while the refining capacity is 228,000 barrels per day. Both petrochemical and refining businesses are running at full capacity. Its enterprise value is US$14.5 billion, against $15.3 billion by Petronas Chemical.
 Veerasak expects the upward cycle of the global petrochemical industry next year, with tight supply and demand. As no new output is expected until 2014, the price of petrochemical products as well as spread will be lucrative, he said.