PTTEP back in business after junta reopens farmland
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PTT Exploration and Production, notified on Monday (June 26) that it could resume operations in areas subject to agricultural land reform, has promptly done so.
The company was notified in writing by the ministry’s Department of Mineral Fuels that it could resume petroleum exploration and extraction in accordance with a recent directive from the National Council for Peace and Order, the military junta heading the government.
That directive gave the Agricultural Land Reform Committee authority to allow the use of parcels under the Agricultural Land Reform programme for purposes other than farming.
PTTEP had halted operations in reform areas after the Supreme Administrative Court on June 1 revoked the committee’s order allowing natural resources there to be tapped.
The court decision forced the Mineral Fuels Department to order onshore concessionaires to suspend petroleum operations in those areas.
