Thai Oil ready to expand to specialty product market

Thai Oil Plc (TOP), Thailand’s largest oil refiner, will expand its product line to include specialty products including treated distillate aromatic extract (TDAE) which is used in the production of tires. “We will allocate a bigger budget for research and development of specialty products in petroleum and aromatics that could bring more margins to us,” said Surong Bulakul, CEO. The company is also looking at bitumen and other higher margin products. “We aim to produce highly durable bitumen for selling in Asian countries that can afford higher-priced bitumen,” he said. The company is currently involved in revamping its facilities and production processes at a cost of US$200 million per year. In addition, TOP is investing US$45 million to expand paraxylene capacity by 20% to 600,000 tons annually. TOP’s net profit for the second quarter of 2011 was 3.24 billion baht (US$108.3 million) an increase of 201% year-on-year. In light of the company’s strong performance, the company is raising its 2011 profit target to 8 billion baht (US$268 million). (August 11, 2011)