IRPC's board of directors on Tuesday approved an additional investment of US$87 million (Bt2.8 billion) for four small projects under its fiveyear Phoenix Project.
The Phoenix Project is the name of IRPC's $1.2billion investment plan for 2007-2011 aimed at making the integrated oil and petrochemical manufacturer the petrochemical leader in Asia by 2014.
The Green Fuel Euro4 project, worth roughly $48 million in total, will use $17 million to upgrade gasoline production to meet the Euro4 standard, Atikom Terbsiri, senior executive vice president for corporate planning and business development, said yesterday.
A pipeline will also be constructed to transmit diesel fuel from IRPC's plant to PTT's other subsidiaries in the Map Ta Phut area to upgrade diesel fuel at a cost of $30 million.
If IRPC invests in the production upgrade by itself, it will need to commit $150 million$200 million, but it can save $120 million$170 million by following PTT Group's integration policy.
PTT is the largest shareholder in IRPC with 36.39 per cent.
The second and third projects, worth a combined $21.7 million, are the efficiency enhancement of its liquid terminal in its port and the storage of petrochemical liquid raw materials.
The two projects were designed to utilise IRPC's property to serve nongroup clients. The project will be divided into many phases, with completion expected in 2012.
The last project is the $108mil¬lion, firstphase development of a green industrial park in Rayong's Ban Khai district, covering 2,500 rai of land. IRPC will construct facilities covering 350 rai to serve greenrelated businesses until 2013.
The company would propose to the board a project to expand the existing production line for propylene, an upstream petrochemical. The additional capacity as well as the cost is under study and it will be the big project for IRPC, Atikom said.
IRPC had postponed a plan to join other PTT subsidiaries to construct a solar farm on IRPC land until the Energy Ministry came up with a clear policy on the adder rate, he added.