PTT presents long-term goals to House
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Panel informed coal, power targets as giant stresses overseas investment
PTT has set a target of annual production of 70 million tonnes of coal by 2020, while owning power plants with combined capacity of 2,000 megawatts according to its shareholding in the plants, and producing 4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year.
Chodechai Suwanaporn, PTT’s executive vice president for energy economics and policy, presented these targets to the House of Representatives energy committee recently, saying it was a must for the giant oil company to invest overseas to ensure national energy security and bring revenue back home.
The company has invested in a coal mine in Indonesia and conducted feasibility studies on coal-mining investments in Mozambique, Madagascar and Brunei.
PTT owns a 25-per-cent stake in Laos’ Xaiyaburi hydropower project and has conducted a feasibility study on investing in a hydropower and a natural-gas-fuelled power plant in Myanmar.
PTT Exploration and Production and PTT International have invested in petroleum fields in Mozambique, Kenya and Australia.
The company has also studied investing in the petrochemical and refinery business in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Chodechai said PTT had adjusted its operating strategy to fit with its overseas business expansion. It also set up a team to manage the risk from raw-material costs and seek ways to boost product prices.
Another special team analyses legal and investment-support policies and taxation measures related to all the company’s investment projects.
He said the government should exert a greater role in encouraging Thai firms to go overseas and help them deal with the obstacles they face.
Chodechai said the tax rate Thailand charges local companies on their foreign incomes was still high at 23 per cent, compared with 17 per cent in Taiwan and 10-22 per cent in South Korea.
Some Asean countries even waive the tax on foreign income.
Thailand’s tax-refund process is also complicated.
Therefore the government should reduce or waive tax on income gained from overseas investment, he said.
He also urged local companies to take advantage of the baht’s current strength to invest or expand overseas.
