Prayut ends conflict between energy minister, PTT board chairman
The chairman of PTT’s board of directors on Thursday agreed to withdraw his resignation after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha stepped in to mediate in a conflict between him and the energy minister.
A well-informed Government House source said Prayut summoned Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Ministry Supattanapong Punmeechaow and PTT board chairman Tossaporn Sirisamphan to a meeting at Government House on Thursday morning.
Prayut called in the two for discussions following reports that Tossaporn had submitted his resignation as PTT chairman last week out of dissatisfaction over Supattanapong’s alleged interference in PTT’s operations.
It has been reported that Tossaporn was highly dissatisfied over Supattanapong’s alleged interference in the appointments of top executives of PTT’s subsidiaries.
“The prime minister asked the two to work together and to not start a conflict again,” the source said.
With Prayut’s mediation, Tossaporn agreed to stay on and no change would be made to the PTT board, according to the source.
After Prayut’s mediation, the two sides agree to have Bandhit Thamprajamjit, senior vice president of PTT subsidiary Thai Oil, to be promoted to the post of Thai Oil CEO, the source added.
