Bangkok in talks to buy Indonesia, Malaysia oil: Report
Tuesday, January 14 2003 - 02:40 AM WIB
Thailand, South-east Asia's third-biggest oil consumer, is in talks to buy oil from Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei in the event that war breaks out in Iraq and disrupts supplies, said a government official as reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday.
?Our biggest concern is the war will disrupt transportation of crude oil to our country,? said Cherdpong Siriwit, permanent secretary in Thailand's Ministry of Energy. ?We are in talks with our neighbours to buy their crude oil in case of a war in Iraq.?
Thailand's oil companies such as PTT pcl imported 526,300 barrels of crude a day from the Middle East in the first nine months to September, while imports from Asia rose 13 per cent to 141,300 barrels in the period. (*)