PTT turns to oil stock management as prices plunge 

Chansin Treenuchagron, President and Chief Executive Officer, said prices dived in the world market after Saudi Arabia announced an increase in production capacity and cut prices in the Asian region.
“Saudi Arabia’s move was triggered by a disagreement between Opec and its partner Russia, which had refused to cut its production capacity by 2 per cent or 1.5 million barrel per day to maintain oil prices,” he said.
He expected the situation to last just a short period because the world was currently faced with various negative factors, especially the Covid-19 outbreak which caused a decline in oil demand.
“The decline in demand was also due to the prolonged US-China trade war which led to global stock sales,” he said. “The same situation occurred during 2014-2015 when speculators withdrew money from oil stocks and turned to safe-haven assets”.
He believe that if crude oil prices fell to $30-40 per barrel, oil-reliant countries in the Middle East and shell oil producer with production cost around $40-60 per barrel, would be affected. 
“The current economic recession indicates that the world has been under pressure from Covid-19 outbreak,” he said. “However, we believe that it would come under control between three months to one year.”
He added that lower oil prices would benefit Thailand due to reduced energy costs, but PTT's earnings from oil refinery and petrochemical sales in the first quarter will likely face losses due to high oil stock and lower sales of jet fuel.
“Therefore, we need to manage costs in oil refining by reducing storage to align with demand and supply amid a glut in the world market,” he added.
“Meanwhile, PTT must reduce unnecessary costs and focus on businesses that are not affected by the fluctuation in oil prices, such as trading and electricity”.