Thai Oil to issue bonds

Thai Oil P.L.C., Thailand’s largest oil refiner, plans to issue five billion baht (US$142.42 million) worth of bonds, which will be used mainly to adjust its debt portfolio during the first quarter of 2009. The company completed its debottlenecking project last year, which boosted its refining capacity to 275,000 barrels per day. It plans to spend 1.75-3.5 billion baht (US$49.85-99.7 million) this year on three on-going projects—Thai Lube Base’s expansion project, a final feasibility study for an aromatics plant and an ethanol plant. Its project for the upgrading of residue into higher-value distillate products and processing of heavier and cheaper crude previously required an investment of US$1.5-1.6 billion. “The project’s investment was quite high, so we postponed it. However, we’re reconsidering it, because the construction cost has become much lower, in line with the oil price,” said Viroj Mavichak, Thai Oil managing director. (January 19, 2009)