Mr. Atikom Terbsiri, Chief Executive Officer and President, Thai Oil Public Company Limited stated that yesterday (27 August 2018) “the company’s extraordinary shareholders’ meeting approved the investment in the Clean Fuel Project (CFP) with the aim to increase the competitive advantage of Thaioil Refinery to maintain its leading position in the industry. The company will improve its manufacturing efficiency to create added value for the company’s environmentally friendly products as well as increase its crude oil refining capacity from 275,000 barrels per day to 400,000 barrels per day. This will be a five-year long project with an approximate capital fund of 4,825 million USD. The company is also acquiring interested parties to invest in an Energy Recovery Unit (ERU), which will cut the capital fund to 4,174 million USD.”
Mr. Atikom also added, “The petroleum refining industry has seen quite a lot of changes from the opening of new refineries that are equipped with modern technology and offer higher production capacity weakening the competitive edge of the refineries that have been in service longer. Moreover, the changing demands for different fuel products are caused by such factors as the demand for high sulphur fuel oil which is expected to decrease significantly as a result of the International Maritime Organization’s regulation against its use and the continuous expansion of the diesel and jet fuel market that goes in line with the growing economy and air travel industry.”
“To accommodate these changes, Thaioil has initiated the CFP project to increase production efficiency by building a new crude oil distillation unit with higher refining capacity to replace the older ones that have been in service for many years, which will result in economies of scale. Moreover, modern technology will be used to support the refining of more varieties of crude oil and a product value-adding unit will be installed, which will turn fuel oils and asphalt into diesel oils and jet fuels. Investing in the CFP project will also benefit the country in many ways including building its energy security, creating an opportunity for the country to become AEC’s energy hub, helping propel and expand its economy by providing both direct and indirect employment. In addition, the CFP project also manufactures petrochemical industry’s feedstock, which will support the government’s phase 4 of its petrochemical project.”
