Bangkok: Feb. 28 - Thai Oil moves forward with a 3-year investment plan of 703 million USD. Margin during this period is good at 8.25 USD/barrel. Mrs. Chanamas Sasananan, Executive Vice President In terms of finance and accounting, Thai Oil Public Company Limited (TOP) revealed that the company plans to invest in future projects from 2024-2026, totaling USD 703 million. Most of it is clean energy projects (Clean Fuel Project) USD 233 million. and investments in the Company's olefins business through the acquisition of shares of PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk for approximately USD 270 million. and other projects of the company that are in process As for the operation of the CFP project, progress is approximately 95%. It is expected that the new diesel desulfurization unit will be able to be commissioned. (Hydrodesulfurization; HDS-4) in February 2024, faster than the plan to support the production of Euro 5 standard oil that will come into effect nationwide in 2024. As for other production units, work is being accelerated to begin Gradually, we can continue testing the machinery. The company is also studying new projects such as Biojet, a technology study. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU), including hydrogen projects As for global crude oil demand this year It is expected that it will continue to grow on average around 1.6 million barrels/day. which has returned to the same level as before COVID-19, mainly from China, which still has the world's top demand for oil. As for the United States, after the Federal Reserve (Fed) is likely to reduce interest rates this year. this It is one factor that influences the outlook on the economy. and demand for US oil has improved. Meanwhile, domestic oil demand continued to grow by 3.4% from last year as the number of tourist arrivals continued to increase. Such an overall picture makes the refinery business In terms of margin (Singapore Cracking GRM) from the beginning of the first quarter of 2024 until now, it is at $8.25/barrel , in the aromatics market. Overall, there is more hope from paraxylene (Px) as demand this year has grown to 1.5 million tons, higher than incoming supply. ,Olefins part There are still some challenges from HDPE despite demand. and supply will grow similarly. But if you look at polypropylene (PP), this year the supply has come in quite a lot from India and China. It is likely that the market for olefins is under pressure, lubricant base oils. More supply coming in this year. And with quite a lot of growth, demand for asphalt in Southeast Asia continues to grow every year. while supply remains stable.-511-Thai News Agency Source: Thai News Agency