Thailand: TPN mulls pipeline via Laos to China

Thailand: TPN mulls pipeline via Laos to China

Thai Pipeline Network Co (TPN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SC Group, is
expected to conduct a feasibility study on an oil pipeline to China's
southern region via landlocked Laos.

Managing director Nataphong Ratanasuwanthawee said the feasibility study
will start by the third quarter of this year to see whether it is worth
investing in the extension project. Under the previous plan, the pipeline
was to be built from Saraburi to Khon Kaen.

Construction of the initial, domestic project is set to begin in 2019, with
operations to begin in 2022, he said.

Mr Nataphong said demand for oil in Laos and the southern region China is
growing substantially every year, and TPN is interested in extending the
existing oil pipeline to capitalise on that demand.

Fuel export volume to Laos is estimated to triple to 6 billion litres within
a decade, from 1.9 billion last year. Some fuel is already being re-exported
to the south of China.

TPN yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with Thai petroleum
Pipeline Co (Thappline) on a potential project to build a depot in Ban Phai
district, Khon Kaen, which would be connected to Thappline's oil depot in
Saraburi via a new pipeline.

An environmental impact assessment is being conducted for the
12-billion-baht pipeline project.

The project is expected to reduce transportation costs between the regions,
as trucks use 9.6 million litres of oil annually to deliver oil shipments.

Overall, the project, financed by Bangkok Bank, is forecast to help reserve
2.28 billion litres of fuel per year.

According to a study by the Department of Energy Business, the project is
the second phase of a nationwide oil pipeline network, which was approved by
the government in 1991.

The first phase of the network started from oil refineries on the Eastern
Seaboard, running to Saraburi and Ayutthaya via Bangkok as well as Don
Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports. That phase, running 460 kilometres in
total, is operated by Fuel Pipeline Transportation Co and Thappline.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1255170/tpn-mulls-pipeline-via-laos
-to-china

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com