Thai Oil to invest nearly USD 5 billion in Clean Fuel Project in Sri Racha refinery

Thai Oil Plc announced that it will invest USD 4.83 billion in a Clean Fuel Project at its Sri Racha refinery in Chonburi Province along the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand.

Thai Oil wants to enhance its competitiveness by improving production efficiency and switching from low margin to higher margin products.

Thai Oil also plans to increase refining capacity to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from the current 275,000 bpd. After the upgrade, 62% of the refinery’s output will be middle distillates (diesel and jet fuel), from 53% currently.

The expanded capacity will require Thai Oil to expand its refinery area in Sri Racha district by another 200 rai (32 hectares).

Thai Oil President and CEO Atikom Terbsiri said Thai Oil aims to compete with other refineries in Asia-Pacific. The company also aims to diversify its sources of crude oil, which is currently 100% light crude. After the refinery upgrade, both light and heavy crude will represent 40-50% of the refinery’s feedstock.

Construction will start in mid-2019 and operations will commence in early 2023.

The company took almost three years to prepare for the Clean Fuel Project, making the final investment decision last week.