Thailand‘s PTT earmarks P3B for RP expansion in next 5 years

Thailand's PTT Public Co. Ltd. is planning to invest as much as P3 billion in the next five years to expand its network in the Philippines.

In a joint press conference in Malacañang, PTT president Prasert Bunsumpun and Energy Secretary Vincent S. Perez said the huge investment for the expansion program is part of the bilateral cooperation in the energy sector signed by the two countries.

Bunsumpun said they plan to put up at least 100 service stations or 20 gas refilling stations every year in the next five years. At present, PTT maintains 14 stations nationwide.

Most of the new stations, he said, will be constructed in major cities in Luzon.

The PTT official said the company will also be putting up a lubricant processing plant in the near future at a still undisclosed location.

In a related development, Perez said PTT also has plans to invest in the country's first Public Contracting Round-I (PCR-I), wherein 46 exploration blocks for oil and gas drilling will be bid out on March 5.

Given the continuous upward trend in world oil prices, the Philippines and Thailand have taken the initiative in ASEAN to push for the creation of a regional petroleum hub that will be used as strategic locations for stockpiling and distribution.

Thailand has recently opened its first petroleum trading center in Sri Racha, Chon Buri with the first shipment of gasoline to Vietnam, effectively opening up alternative routes for other Asian countries to source their petroleum requirements.

The Philippines, on other hand, has offered the use of its premier storage facility in Subic as a potential strategic and commercial site for stockpiling.

On other areas for bilateral cooperation, both countries discussed other areas of possible cooperation which include upstream and downstream oil and gas activities. In the upstream sector, Thailand has expressed keen interest in cooperating with the Philippine National Oil Co. in exploration activities while the Philippines expressed interest in undertaking joint activities with PTT in Thailand involving geothermal drilling and contracting.

Thailand, which has extensive knowledge in the gas industry, has also shown interest in participating in the development of the Philippines‚ downstream natural gas sector, in particular in the natural gas distribution pipeline networks to support the thrust of the Philippines for the expanded utilization of this resource to other sectors such as transport, commercial and ultimately, the household sectors.

The Philippines and Thailand are also one in giving importance in improving as well as harmonizing fuel quality to support calls for supply security in the region.

Thailand lauds the Philippine breakthrough in the expanded utilization of coco diesel through the recent signing of a memorandum circular launching a CME diesel program by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directing all government offices to use CME in their transport fuel requirements.

The visiting Thailand officials also lauded great strides taken by the Philippines in its renewable energy resource development with the issuance of its renewable energy policy framework. Thailand views renewable energy as a possible area for cooperation particularly in the research and development prospects for biomass (e.g. use of rice husks for power generation) and solar energy.

Perez has informed the Thailand officials that the Philippines has recently successfully invited Sun Power of the US to set up a $300 million solar wafer manufacturing facility in the country which will supply the Asian market of solar panels.