PTTEP flags $15.5 bn investments

 The energy giant said some US$3.1 billion of this budget would be spent on domestic and overseas projects on expectations of a sustained increase in production next year.
 PTT’s board of directors will meet on Friday to review PTT Group's overall expenditure budget for the five-year period on expectation of seeing a boost from the previous investment period.
 The five years covers the period to 2021. Of the Bt1.9 trillion total earmarked for investment, Bt1.6 trillion will be for PTT and its group and about Bt200 billion will be allocated to reserves for the budget.
Earlier, Sriwan Eamrungroj, senior executive vice president for corporate strategy at PTT, expected PTT and its subsidiaries to record consolidated profit of more than Bt100 billion this year. This would mark the fourth time since 2011 that PTT Group has recorded a net profit of at least Bt100 billion.
For the first nine months of this year, PTT's consolidated net profit jumped 32.2 per cent year on year to Bt99.82 billion. 
Based on the estimated consolidated profit, PTT Group will have financial capacity, in both cash flow and fund raising capability, of about Bt2 trillion to cope with its five-year investment plan.
PTT Group registered Bt105.3 billion in consolidated net profit in 2011 and Bt104.67 billion in consolidated net profit in 2012.
Somporn Vongvuthipornchai, chief executive officer at PTTEP, said that its board recently approved PTTEP group's five-year operational plan starting from next year to 2022 with a planned expenditure budget of US$15.55 billion. 
Of the total, US$8.98 billion will be capital expenditure and US$6.57 billion for operating expenditure.
The expenditure budget came from the company’s Mozambique Rovuma Offshore Area 1 Project, the Algeria Hassi Bir Rekaiz Project, the Vietnam Block B & 48/95 and Block 52/97 Project, and Contract 4 Project, which is in the final stage of investment decision.
In the 2018 operating plan, PTTEP Group set an expenditure budget of $3.1 billion. Of the total, US$1.33 billion will be operating expenditure and US$1.77 billion will be investment expenditure.
Next year, the company plans to spend 59 per cent of its budget in Thailand, aiming to maintain production levels in the country's key projects.
About 32 per cent of the budget will be used on Southeast Asian projects, to maintain production and spend on exploration in Myanmar and the remaining 9 per cent will go to projects in other regions, including Australia, Africa, North America and South America. 
In 2018, the company estimates its will spend US$232 million on exploration. Most of these funds will be spent in Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and Australia.
Somporn said that, based on the investment plan, PTTEP forecasts average daily petroleum sales at its current projects will be 302,000 barrels next year, 299,000 barrels in 2019, 283,000 barrels in 2020, 276,000 barrels in 2021 and 239,000 barrels in 2022.
The forecast excludes sales from expiring fields.