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KTB plans 80 new branches
Krungthai Bank aims to open 80 branches in urban centres, department stores, schools and border provinces, bringing the domestic total to 1,200 branches this year.
The past five months have seen 28 branches added and the pace will continue with seven new branches in each of the remaining seven months.
Petronas to export Canadian LNG
Malaysian national oil company Petronas has laid out a multibillion-dollar plan to extract and liquefy natural gas in western Canada for export to energy-hungry markets in Asia, officials said.
Arif Mahmood, vice president of corporate planning, said US$9 billion to $11 billion (Bt280 billion to Bt340 billion) would be invested to construct two gas-liquefaction plants. The target date for the project’s completion is late 2018.
The site will be designed with the potential to add a third plant and LNG storage tank, the company said on its website.
About $5 billion will be invested in a pipeline 750 kilometres long to be built and operated by TransCanada Corp, to supply gas to the plants, Arif said.
The Pacific NorthWest LNG project, located on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert in northwestern British Columbia, will liquefy and export natural gas produced by Progress Energy Canada, which Petronas also owns.
Progress Energy Canada said it planned to spend “several billion dollars on activities related to natural-gas extraction”.
This will bring the total project cost to about $20 billion, the company said through a representative.
Petronas recently sold a 10-per-cent stake in the gas facility to Japan Petroleum Exploration Co to secure its first long-term buyer, and is hunting for more buyers. |– AP
