PTT to expand overseas retail operations

Thailand’s PTT PLC announced that it will again look to broaden its oil retail business beyond its home market. PTT more than a decade ago expanded its oil retail business in China, Laos and the Philippines. Saran Rangkasiri, executive vice-president for retail marketing, credits the resumption of its overseas expansion to recent successful marketing campaigns for its lube products in Thailand, as well as improvement in its service station image domestically. In the last two years, the company has opened new service stations in these overseas markets, as well as new lube marketing campaigns in Burma and China. “We not only intend to sell our refined oil surplus to those countries, but also aim to raise our brand awareness both for oil and lubricants so that in the future we can sell other downstream products via the pumps,” said the PTT executive. (March 30,2011)