PTT to Hike Investment in Malaysia

Thailand’s state owned energy firm PTT has plans to hike investment in Malaysia.

According to company CFO Wirat Uanarumit, the company is also looking to cooperate in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, news agency Reuters reported on Wednesday. He added that PTT is eyeing several other projects but declined to give details.

Since Thailand uses gas for 70 percent of its power generation, PTT has been in talks with several LNG suppliers to secure long-term energy supplies. This year, the state owned firm signed LNG related MoU with Gazprom, Novatek and KOGAS. 

In Malaysia, the Thai firm has a joint venture, Trans Thai-Malaysia (Thailand) Ltd, with Petronas to overlook the gas pipeline and gas separation plant projects since 2000, the news agency said.

PTT reported a 4.8 percent increase in first quarter profit due to drop in feed gas costs in line with crude oil price which had fallen since mid-2015.

The company reported net income of 23.67 billion baht ($669.78 million) for the quarter that ended on March 31, 2016. First quarter sales stood at 387 billion baht, down 24.9 percent on year.