Be open to rivalry, minister tells PTT
PTT should bow to public opinion and reduce its dominant role to boost competition in the energy sector, Energy Minister General Anantaporn Kanjanarat has suggested.
“I have given a broad framework that if there are areas in which people would like PTT to compete, it should do so,” Anantaporn said during his visit to the PTT headquarters yesterday.
The newly appointed minister said PTT should not forget that it has a dual role. On the one hand it is a publicly listed company that has to compete for business and pay returns to its shareholders, he said, adding that the state is a major beneficiary. On the other hand, it is a state enterprise that has to take care of the public interest.
Nevertheless, Anantaporn said PTT is a business leader that has constantly reviewed and adjusted its business conduct and won much recognition, including corporate governance awards.
“PTT has consistently conducted Swot [strength, weakness, opportunity and threat] analysis to review which projects are not worthwhile. [I’m] confident that PTT won’t do any damage,” he said.
Tevin Vongvanich, the recently appointed CEO of the company, said PTT would reduce its role and help to create more competition in certain energy sectors, such as the oil business.
He said PTT Group’s business structure would be reorganised to make it easier to understand and transparent enough for the public to see the results and the investment structure of each business.
Tevin said he has also assigned business units and subsidiaries to review their investment and expenditures, while also looking to capture opportunities that arise from the current oil price slump, which has caused difficulties for some of its competitors.
“We will no longer try to project the oil price trends; instead, we will have a scenario in which we adjust according to the oil price levels.
“It is a good thing to revise investments and expenditures because these are the things we should be doing even without the oil price slide. We should change the crisis into an opportunity to squeeze the fat,” he said.
The new investment and expenditure plans will be finalised in December, said Tevin, who assumed his new post yesterday.
