BANGKOK, Jan 21 — The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has called on the government to complete the 21st round of bidding for petroleum concessions, while ensuring transparency and protection of the national interest.
FTI chairman Supant Mongkolsuthree said the FTI agreed to the 21st round of petroleum concession granting, but the activity must be transparent, accountable and beneficial to the whole nation instead of any particular group.
FTI vice chairman Chen Namchaisiri said that the body wants the government to proceed quickly with the petroleum concession-granting plan and study alternatives including production-sharing for future implementation. He said that the sharing might be suitable for joint petroleum development with neighboring countries in the near future.
If the government wants to apply production-sharing in the 21st round, it should act quickly; otherwise, the energy security of the nation would be jeopardized, he warned.
Domestic production of natural gas will drop in the near future and developing commercial petroleum production in a new location could take up to ten years, Mr Chen said.
He advised the government to compensate fairly the communities that petroleum projects would affect. (MCOT online news)
