IRPC yesterday allayed foreign investors' concerns that the company's former major shareholder Prachai Leophairatana will buy back shares, saying there is only a slim chance of that happening.

"I have heard that he is lobbying many persons in the government because the directorship terms of PTT president Prasert Bumsumpun will come up for renewal this October and there is a possible chance that he will step in. However, we are confident that Prasert will be reappointed for another term and it would be difficult to influence the PTT board to support selling back IRPC shares to Prachai," Suphon Tubtimcharoon, chief planning and administration officer for IRPC, said during its roadshow abroad to sell its dollar-denominated bonds.

He said this was a question frequently raised by foreign investors but the company has confirmed that it is an unlikely scenario and hence not a business risk.

PTT is IRPC's largest shareholder with a 31.50-per-cent stake, followed by the Government Savings Bank and Vayupak Fund at 10 per cent each.

 IRPC's dollar bonds attracted around $1.6 billion (Bt53.3 billion) in bids, more than six times its offering.

Regarding TPI Polene's (TPIPL) claim of limestone and shale concession rights, he said IRPC had already returned all rights to TPIPL.

He also said that a lawsuit against Prachai over an allegation that he incorrectly allowed IRPC - Thai Petrochemical Industry at that time - to extend loans to subsidiaries worth Bt8 billion is in court.

Meanwhile, company managing director Piti Yimprasert, estimated that IRPC would obtain around Bt5 billion in revenues from oil exports to China between this year to 2010.

He said the company had signed an agreement to sell a combined 100 million litres of high-speed diesel and gasoline 91 to Xishuangbanna Gas and Petroleum Industrial of China under a three-year contract.

"At the moment, the Chinese government is reducing development of the eastern part and concentrating more on the southern and the western parts. This is an opportunity for us to sell high sulphur diesel, which we could not sell in our country. And the selling price there is better than the domestic price by US$1 to $2 per barrel," he said.

IRPC yesterday closed 1.68 per cent higher at Bt6.05.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation