Ministry has contingency energy plan

"We need to seek measures to deal with the possible seizure of energy facilities, which are the country's strategic infrastructure. If they're lost, this will have a far-flung impact on the country and public," Tawarat Sutabutr, director of the Energy Policy and Planning Bureau, said yesterday.

Possible targets are oil facilities such as refineries and gas separation plants, and even private oil businesses.

The ministry is closely watching how the situation evolves.

It has divided the plan into many stages, beginning from monitoring information on developments to predicting possible hostile incidents such as the seizure of energy facilities and which facilities are in the risk areas.

The Cabinet yesterday instructed all ministries to prepare meeting rooms and teleconferencing systems to cope with any crisis.

The ministry had to cancel a trip by its representatives to the Oil Reserve for the Asean Members meeting in the Philippines yesterday.