PTTGC to revise Bt347 bn,10-year investment plan
PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) will revise its 2011-20 investment plan worth US$11 billion (Bt347 billion) as a result of the euro-zone debt crisis and concerns over a slowing global economy.
Anon Sirisaengtaksin, chief executive officer of the major petrochemical and refinery company, said yesterday that it would re-prioritise spending. The projects it is still focused on include those involved in the expansion of production capacity and environmentally related schemes.
PTTGC will also trim its operational expenditure this year to Bt9 billion, a Bt1-billion reduction, he added.
He believes that the company’s financial performance in the second half of this year will be better than in the first six months.
He estimated that the average Dubai crude-oil price this year would be $100 per barrel.
PTT, which owns about 48.9 per cent in the company, has recently raised the price of natural gas it supplies to PTTGC as a raw material for petrochemical production. This has raised PTTGC’s raw-material cost by 8 per cent, but it can still maintain its competitiveness, Anon said.
He said the new gas price would be valid through 2020, which would make it easier for PTTGC to lay out a business plan.
PTTGC was formed by the amalgamation of PTT Chemical (PTTCH) and PTT Aromatics and Refining (PTTAR), and was registered as a new entity last October 19.
In the second quarter of this year, PTTGC and its subsidiaries posted net profit of Bt851 million, down by 90 per cent from the same period last year and down 91 per cent from the previous quarter.
Anon said PTT planned to transfer all of its combined shares in the group’s other petrochemical firms to PTTGC, which would make the company the full flagship of PTT in the petrochemical-product business.
