Thai IRPC to invest 10b baht to expand petchem output capacity in 2017

[BANGKOK] Thailand's integrated oil refiner IRPC Pcl plans to invest 10 billion baht (S$402.3 million) next year with the aim to expand its production capacity of a petrochemical product and boost its long-term earnings growth, a top executive said.

IRPC will increase its polypropylene production capacity by 63 per cent, or 300,000 tonnes, to 775,000 tonnes by the middle of next year, President and CEO Sukrit Surabotsopon told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Once the expansion is completed, Mr Sukrit said IRPC will be Southeast Asia's largest producer of polypropylene - a synthetic resin which is a polymer of propylene, used chiefly for films, fibres, or moulding materials.

IRPC, part of state-controlled PTT Pcl, Thailand's largest energy firm, is targeting an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 29 billion baht by 2020, Mr Sukrit said, versus 17.5 billion baht in 2015.

Sukrit, however, reiterated EBITDA will be below target this year due to a delay in the company's upstream hygiene and value-added product upgrade project (UHV) project that started commercial runs in July, two months later than planned.

The UHV project, which increased the annual capacity of propylene by 320,000 tonnes, will boost the company's earnings in 2017, he said.

REUTERS