PTTGC’s Bangkok office shut by Thailand political protests

By Nurluqman Suratman

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–PTT Global Chemical’s (PTTGC) head office in Bangkok has shut this week amid continuing political protests sweeping Thailand’s capital, but business operations are running normally, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

“We do not face any disruption because most of our business [functions] are located at our Rayong office,” the spokeswoman told ICIS.

The company’s petrochemical facilities are located in Map Ta Phut in Rayong province, located about 175 kilometres away from Bangkok.

PTTGC is part of Thailand’s energy giant PTT Group.

Political demonstrations in front of the Ministry of Energy building, which is in the same area as PTT’s headquarters in Bangkok, forced the temporary closure of the group’s offices in the capital on 14 January, PTT CEO Pailin Chuchottaworn said in a statement dated Tuesday.

“PTT will implement its business continuity management plan, to make sure that the company can continue to operate without affecting business partners and stakeholders. The plan will remain in place until the protest situation returns to normal,” he said.

“The company’s staff can work from other places, and the business operations are still running as normal without any impact on business partners.”

A wave of political protests has been going on in Bangkok since November last year, with protesters demanding the ouster of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, while opposing the proposed elections in February.

Notwithstanding the ongoing political tensions, shares of petrochemical companies listed in Thailand were trading higher on Thursday.

At 15:31 hours Singapore time (07:31 GMT), PTTGC was up by 0.33% while parent firm PTT was up by 1.44%.

Refiner and aromatics producer Thai Oil was up by 1.39% while polyester producer Indorama Ventured Ltd (IVL) jumped by 3.37%.

“It is increasingly likely that the February 2 election will be postponed,” Singapore-based DBS Group Research said on Thursday.

“There is a risk that the central bank may feel the need to do more to help propping the economy. A still benign inflation will continue to make it tempting to call for lower interest rates,” it added.

The Bank of Thailand in November last year unexpectedly cut its key interest rate by a quarter to 2.25% because of the growing political tension in the country, according to media reports.

Read John Richardson and Malini Hariharan’s blog – Asian Chemical Connections