No impact yet on PTT's imports from attack on Saudi oil facility: Sontirat
Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said that Saturday's drone attacks on two major oil-processing facilities run by Saudi Arabia's state-owned firm Aramco would not affect oil imports of the PTT group.
He added that he had learnt from Aramco and related parties that the situation there was under control and the damage was being assessed. The incident would not affect the oil depots, which supply crude oil to Thailand's oil and gas conglomerate PTT, the minister added.
The ministry is keeping itself abreast of the situation and has already devised a back-up plan. He assured that the country had sufficient supply for the short-term if the attack led to severe impact on Saudi Arabia's oil exports.
Last week the ministry asked six refineries nationwide to start reporting their reserves, production, and oil purchases on a daily basis, from the previous practice of monthly reports, in a move to prevent oil supply shortage.
It added that the country's oil reserves were enough for 30 to 45 days if there was a supply shortage.
The drone attack reportedly cut Saudi Arabia's output by around 5.7 million barrels per day or 5 per cent of the total global oil production.
Anusorn Thammajai, director of Rangsit University's Institute of Economics, warned that if Saudi Arabia counterattacked, the situation could worsen and that would put pressure on global and Thailand's oil price, Anusorn said.
The global oil price could jump by between US$5 and $10 per barrel next week. If the baht remains strong, this could assuage the impact from the pressure on local retail oil price to a certain degree.
If the drone attack led to a prolonged military action, this might affect global oil supply and result in protracted high oil price. If so this would exacerbate the ailing global economy, he warned.
