Briefs

Thailand should be used as a base to store crude-oil supplies from Middle East producers spooked by Iran’s threat to shut the Strait of Hormuz, according to the head of the country’s biggest energy company.
Look at the vulnerability of the Hormuz Strait, said Pailin Chuchottaworn, CEO of PTT. All the Persian Gulf oil exporters, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, want to send out the oil and keep it outside the Gulf. Policy-makers should approve a 90-day oil reserve using either state funds or foreign reserves, a move the central bank has resisted. Storage facilities would be located in the South along with an oil pipeline linking the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea to allow crude oil to bypass Singapore and the Strait of Malacca, he said. – Bloomberg

Charupong offers THAI advice
Transport Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan said yesterday that Thai Airways International should concentrate on managing oil-price risks and load factors to ensure competitiveness.
THAI needs to continue cutting operating costs, he said. For instance, the ticket-reservation system should have more stringent measures to control costs and raise the load factor from the current 75-78 per cent, while jet fuel should account for 40 per cent of total costs. – The Nation

Eastern Star eyes 4-5 projects
Eastern Star Real Estate plans to launch four or five residential projects worth Bt4 billion to Bt5 billion a year to drive its business up 10 per cent annually, managing director Rattanachai Patiwanit said yesterday.
One of five new projects this year is a condominium on Sathorn Road in Bangkok worth Bt2.3 billion that will help increase its presales by 47 per cent to Bt2.5 billion. – The Nation