Published on December 29, 2005

PTT plans to reduce the number of its petrol stations from 1,200 to 1,000 during the next two years.

President Prasert Bunsumpun said the company would close down unprofitable stations from 2006-07. Despite a steep rise in prices for crude and refined oil, profitability remains very poor among petrol stations in Thailand. Prasert said oil companies in the Kingdom would suffer a combined loss of Bt10 billion in the retailing sector this year.

He said the marketing margin for diesel and petrol averaged 60-70 satang a litre this year, and next year it was unlikely to reach Bt1.20 a litre – a level considered reasonable by oil firms.

Prasert added that the remaining stations would need to be upgraded to earn more non-petrol revenues. He added that there would be no change in local retail oil prices during the New Year holiday, despite current high fluctuations in global oil prices, but PTT would consider whether prices needed an adjustment after the New Year.

PTT expects to close its books with sales revenues exceeding Bt900 billion for the year, up 40 per cent from last year, thanks to increased income from natural gas, oil refineries and petrochemicals. He said the downstream oil business had hardly made a profit, because local retail oil prices had not been raised to match world prices.

Post your comment to this story here