National oil and gas conglomerate PTT Plc reports that an oil supertanker, carrying two million barrels of crude from the Middle East, has safely passed through the Strait of Hormuz and is due to arrive in Thailand on Tuesday.
The company said that the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), had been stranded at the Sharjah Ports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since March 7. It was able to continue its journey on April 10, during the ceasefire agreement between the United States, Israel and Iran, adding that the supertanker is about one month behind its earlier scheduled arrival in Thailand.
The company says that the tensions in the Middle East have been impacting global oil transport for more than a month, but that PTT has been closely monitoring the situation and took pro-active approach by revising its oil procurement plan, by switching to other sources of crude oil albeit at higher costs, to ensure there is sufficient oil supply to meet domestic demand and enhance energy security.
In order to procure crude oil from different sources, PTT claims that the revised procurement plan has increased the company’s liquidity burden by about 230 billion baht, including 63 billion in margin calls, 137 billion in working capital and 35 billion in overdue contributions to the Oil Fuel Fund, as well as about 7 billion baht interest charges.
“This is not a normal business practice and PTT does not pass on this additional financial burden to the consumers,” said PTT.
