PTTEP eyeing Burma, Cambodia

PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) sees opportunities for growth in Burma and Cambodia, said Anon Sirisaengtaksin, the firm's president and chief executive officer.

He said this yesterday at the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC), hosted this year by Thailand. The seminar, which began yesterday, is a forum for businesses to exchange knowledge on the development of petroleum exploration and production technology. Given the decline in petroleum sources worldwide, new technology is needed to explore potential new sources.

Burma has high potential for petroleum production, Anon said. PTTEP has long invested in petroleum exploration and production in the country, and will soon be granted concessions to explore two more fields there.

PTTEP is investing US$2 billion (Bt62 billion) from 2011 to 2013 to build an oil rig and to produce petroleum in Burma's M9 field, and to install a 300-kilometre-long natural-gas pipeline to link the site with its existing pipelines in Kanchana-buri. Starting next year, this will enable it to deliver 240 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to Thailand and another 60 million cubic feet per day to Burma.

The company is also waiting for the government to complete negotiations with Cambodia on the countries' overlapping maritime claims. Anon said PTTEP would spend Bt600 billion to expand petroleum exploration and production business in Asean, Australia, Africa and North America.

Pailin Chuchottaworn, president and chief executive officer of PTT, said of PTT Group's overseas investments between 2012 and 2016, 50 per cent would be conducted by PTTEP, with priority given to upstream businesses.

PTT Group has investments in all Asean countries and East Timor.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An is attending the IPTC seminar and will visit PTT's gas-separation plant in Map Ta Phut, Rayong.

Pailin added that if the two countries could solve their overlapping maritime claims, it would bring tremendous benefits to both countries, and give Thailand access to a new petroleum source.