MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand's PTT Global Chemical PCL (PTTGC), said it planned to reduce the export of naphtha and use it instead as a feedstock for its own olefin crackers after declines in global crude prices, said Reuters.
Using naphtha from its refinery to feed the petrochemical plants could raise its annual olefins capacity by 600,000 tonnes to 3.5 million tonnes, Chief Executive Supattanapong Punmeechaow told reporters.
"Global oil prices are likely to stay at low levels over the next five years and we have to prepare for that," he said.
The company will examine more details about investment and focus on high value-added petrochemical products to boost margins, he said, adding the project is part of preparations for a potential decline in domestic gas supplies.
PTTGC normally exports 1.32 million tonnes a year of naphtha. It produces petrochemicals primarily from natural gas, and in the past it enjoyed good margins by using domestic gas supplied by its parent PTT from the Gulf of Thailand.
One of the world's top 10 ethylene makers, PTTGC has a petrochemicals production capacity of 8.75 million tonnes a year and runs a refinery with a crude and condensate refining throughput capacity of 280,000 barrels per day.
As MRC informed earlier, PTT Global Chemical PCL's second quarter net profit surged 45% thanks to higher margins from petrochemical and refining products and rising stock gain. Net profit was 8.9 billion baht (USD253.20 million), in line with 8.8 billion baht average forecast by 16 analysts polled by Reuters. This compared with 6.17 billion baht in the same period a year earlier.
PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC