Director Chalush Chinthammit said yesterday that the situation had driven the company to export its ethanol.

Initially, it plans to ship the product to Singapore, Japan and South Korea to serve high demand.

He added that if the domestic demand of ethanol dropped sharply in the future, the company would have to cut its production capacity to between 30 million and 40 million litres per year.

Its full capacity is 45 million litres.

Chalus said the company targeted revenue of between Bt6.5 billion and Bt7 billion in fiscal year 2007, of which 60 per cent would be contributed by the sugar business and 40 per cent from energy plants and ethanol.

Last year it posted sales of Bt5.532 billion.

Condos to launch

LPN Development plans to launch five new condominium projects worth a combined Bt8.8 billion in Bangkok.

The company will also push a new brand of condo products - Lumpini CondoTown - into the market this year after reaping a total of nearly Bt7 billion in sales last year.

Managing director Opas Sripayak said yesterday that the first condo under the new brand would be put up on Ramkhamhaeng Soi 43/1.

The project will consist of 14 eight-storey buildings with a total of 3,500 units worth Bt2.4 billion.

LPN last year also handed over a number of condo units to customers in line with its target. Out of total 14,000 newly registered condos in Bangkok last year, about 31 per cent were LPN units.

In 2006, LPN launched four new condo projects with a combined value of Bt6.2 billion. 

Oil concessions

The Energy Ministry yesterday awarded four onshore and offshore petroleum exploration concessions, as approved by the Cabinet on December 8.

One onshore field in Suphan Buri was awarded to Pan Oriented Energy Corporation.

Three offshore fields in the Gulf of Thailand were awarded to Pearl Oil Offshore, Northern Gulf Oil (Thailand), and Occidental Exploration Petroleum.

Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand said yesterday that the next round to award more concessions will take place in May.

The concessions are in line with the country's policy to maintain energy security.

PTT success

PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) has found more oil at the Nang Nuan Project when an exploration well encountered an average flow rate of 9,050 barrels per day.

The exploration well NNN-A04ST was spudded on December 4 last year and drilled to a total depth of 3,205 meters.

Test results indicated a maximum flow rate of approximately 9,700 barrels per day which is considered as significant for the Gulf of Thailand.

"PTTEP is very pleased with the discovery. We are preparing to install a production platform and equipment to start oil production from this well by the second quarter of this year," said president Moroot Mrigadat.