PTT Public Company Limited is a Thai state-owned SET-listed petroleum and natural gas company. Formerly known as the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, it owns extensive submarine gas pipelines in the Gulf of Thailand, a network of LPG terminals throughout the kingdom, and it is involved in electricity generation, petrochemical products, oil and gas exploration and production, and gasoline retailing businesses.[5] The company also owns Café Amazon, a popular coffee chain throughout Southeast Asia, which shops are often located next to PTT gas stations or inside malls.
Affiliated companies include PTT Exploration and Production, PTT Global Chemical, PTT Asia Pacific Mining,[6] and PTT Green Energy.
On 15 December 2022, the world's largest institutional investor the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global divested from PTT and its subsidiary PTT Oil and Retail Business PCL (PTTOR) due to "unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to serious violations of individuals’ rights in situations of war or conflict".[7]
History
PTT traces its origins to 1978, when Thailand sought greater energy independence following the global oil crises of the 1970s. On 29 December 1978, the government of Prime Minister Kriangsak Chamanan established the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PAT) as a state-owned enterprise to oversee petroleum exploration, imports, refining, and national fuel distribution.[8][9]
PAT was created through the consolidation of the Thai Fuel Organization (Thai: องค์การเชื้อเพลิง) under the Defense Energy Department and the Thai Natural Gas Organization (Thai: องค์การก๊าซธรรมชาติแห่งประเทศไทย) under the Ministry of Industry to form a single national energy enterprise.
Between 1981 and 1983 PAT built Thailand’s first natural-gas transmission pipeline linking the Erawan and Bongkot gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand to the power plants at Bang Pakong and South Bangkok. This marked the beginning of Thailand’s domestic gas-based electricity generation. In 1985 PAT opened the Bangchak oil refinery in Bangkok and expanded its downstream distribution business by establishing a nationwide network of service stations under the “PTT” brand. In 1988 it began development of the onshore gas-separation plants at Map Ta Phut in Rayong Province, providing feedstock for the country’s emerging petrochemical industry. By the mid-1990s PAT had completed additional pipeline extensions to the Eastern Seaboard and southern provinces, integrated joint-venture refineries at Rayong and Sriracha, and become the country’s dominant energy supplier.
To modernize the state-enterprise sector and attract private investment, the government corporatized PAT under the State Enterprise Corporatization Act B.E. 2542 (1999).
Financials
For 2016, PTT PCL reported revenues of 1,737,148 million baht, net income of 94,609 million baht, assets of 2,232,331 million baht, and total equity of 762,948 million baht.[11]
PTT's 15 directors were compensated with 14.9 million baht in meeting allowances in 2016, plus 38.7 million baht in bonuses. The president and CEO's salary for the year was 30.6 million baht plus a 9.6 million baht bonus.[12] The company in 2016 employed 4,616 (PTT)[12] and 24,680 at subsidiaries.[12] Total compensation for PTT employees in 2016, excluding top management, was 9,651 million baht.[12]
Operations
In 2012, PTT purchased the remaining 55 percent of Sakari Resources, a Singaporean coal mine operator.[13]
In 2012, PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) took over Cove Energy plc, which owned an 8.5 percent share in a huge natural-gas field offshore Mozambique.[14]
The company operates 58 retail stations in the Philippines and plans to add an additional 15-20 petrol stations in Luzon and the Visayas, in Cebu Province.[15]
PTT Public Company Limited and Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil company, partnered to build a new petrochemical complex in Indonesia for an estimated cost of US$4–5 billion.[16]
Controversies
Oil spills
The 2009 Montara oil spill, 250 km off Australia's northwestern coast led to "thousands of barrels of oil gushed into the ocean over a 10-week period following a blowout at PTTEP Australasia's West Atlas rig in the Timor Sea".[17] The Australian unit of PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) "admitted to four charges" in the 2009 spill.[17]
The 2013 Rayong oil spill[18] started on the night of 28 July 2013. An oil leak (from a pipeline) 35 km from Ko Samet's Ao Phrao Beach, resulted in the beach being closed and its tourists evacuated after spillage reached the beach.[18][19]
Green energy
In November 1993, former Thai prime minister Anand Panyarachun established the Thailand Business Council for Sustainable Development.[30] In 2010, PTT President and CEO Prasert Bunsumpun announced that PTT would expand into producing more renewable energy.[31]
PTT has many subsidiaries, including PTTGC, TOP, BCP, and PTTEP, all of which are working towards producing more environmentally friendly energy.[32] In 2014, Bangchak Petroleum completed its Sunny Bangchak project, a 38-megawatt silicon photovoltaic power plant, the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia.[33][34]