Coastal is looking to expand beyond Thailand.
Oil explorer looks to expand
By Nalin Viboonchart
The Nation
Published on June 4, 2010
nationmultimedia.com
NuCoastal (Thailand), an oil exploration company, is eyeing to expand its business to other Southeast Asean countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia from the regional base in Thailand.
General Manager John Griffith yesterday said the company's staff was seeking good locations in Malaysia and Indonesia for drilling. Once they find an opportunity in the energy business in those countries, the company will set up satellite offices to explore for oil, while Thailand will be the main office for its business in this region.
"We see Thailand as our operation base in this region because there are fewer operators in this country. In Malaysia and Indonesia, there are many companies exploring and drilling for oil and gas. So we believe that there is a lot of opportunity in Thailand," he said.
NuCoastal (Thailand) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coastal Energy, which is listed on the London AIM and Toronto TSXV stock markets.
The company has licences to explore and drill in petroleum block G5/43, not far from the Songkhla coastline. It was established in Thailand in 2003 and started oil drilling in 2006.
Griffith said the company would invest further in oil exploration in Southeast Asia despite protests from residents in Songkhla province on environmental issues. The company has said the drilling technology utilised in Thailand is the same as that of Coastal Energy worldwide as well as other leading oil and gas exploration firms, such as PTT Exploration and Production. It also has spent many millions of baht each year to protect the environment in the nearby area.
Early this year, fishermen in Songkhla province protested against NuCoastal, saying their livelihoods were affected by the company's operation as there was waste from the drilling.
NuCoastal denied that the company's operations hurt the environment. It brought local people as well as third parties to dive at the Soraya platform, its drilling site in the Songkhla field, to experience that its operation does not harm aquatic animals.
"The conflict with local people is not an obstacle for our business. We will try to let them to understand that our operation has not hit their careers and we hope that the relationship between us and the villagers will be improved soon. We intend to further invest in Thailand," Griffith said.
NuCoastal will start to explore for crude oil from its second platform - Songkhla C - over the next few days. It expects to drill 10-15 wells in this platform this year.
At present, NuCoastal has explored for crude oil only at the Soraya field, which has a total capacity of 8,500 barrels per day. The entire output is sold to PTT. |
