IRPC to invest US$1.4 billion in petrochemical business

Integrated Refinery and Petrochemical Complex (IRPC), which is part of the PTT group in Thailand, plans to accelerate its capital spending in the petrochemical segment with a budget of US$1.4 billion over the next five years, according to IRPC’s Chief Executive Officer Pailin Chuchottaworn. The capital injection is aimed at improving the company’s profit profile, which had been sidelined by the penetration of biofuels in the country and the improved fuel efficiency of automobiles. “We aim to become Asia’s highest-profitability petroleum-refining and petrochemical-production company by 2014,” Pailin said. (April 5, 2010)