Thailand: Bangchak Petroleum To Phase Out Regular Fuel
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Monday, 01 March 2010 |
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Bangchak Petroleum will phase out regular fuel from its service
stations within 2012, says president Anusorn Sangnimnuan. The next step
in its policy to only sell "green" petrol and diesel follows Bangchak's
removal of premium petrol from its service station network in 2006.
The company will also expand the presence of its pumps for E20, a
blend of 20 percent ethanol in petrol, to 300 stations nationwide from
100 currently. Regular petrol is now available in its 700
stations. "We cannot wait for the government decision to phase
out all pure petrol while the demand for ethanol-based fuel is
gradually climbing," said Dr Anusorn.
Bangchak's average monthly sales of gasohol 91 and gasohol 95 last year
rose to 50.6 million litres from 45 million a year earlier. Monthly E20
sales more than tripled to 3.4 million litres from 1 million.
Meanwhile, sales of regular petrol last year dropped by 10 percent
year-on-year to 18.1 million litres.
Oil refinery output this year would rise by 13.6 percent to an average
of 90,000 to 95,000 barrels per day from 79,200 barrels last year. The
company forecasts that its gross refining margin (GRM) this year would
drop to US$5-6 per barrel from $9.60 last year. As a result, pre-tax
earnings are expected to be half the 12.3 billion baht posted last year.
Last year, Bangchak reported a decline in sales of 20 percent
year-on-year to 108 billion baht. Net profit rose to 7.5 billion baht
from a loss of 750 million the year before. Bangchak is allocating a
budget of 10 billion baht for renewable energy projects.
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