With oil prices likely to stay low for some time, Tevin Vongvanich, the new CEO of Thai state-owned oil giant PTT, is focusing on growing by taking over discounted resources and companies around the world.
Officially taking office on Oct. 1, the former CEO of PTT's upstream subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production met reporters in Bangkok and mapped out his expansion strategy for his three-year tenure through 2018, when he reaches the retirement age of 60.
Acknowledging that PTT's expansion has relied on domestic oil and gas reserves, Tevin said the company has hit its ceiling for the first stage of growth. "We have done our best in utilizing and adding value to our domestic resources," he said.
During his predecessor's tenure, PTT increasingly invested in overseas projects, expanding its global footprint to 11 countries. But a majority of the projects in the upstream sector are still in the exploration phase and will take at least "three to four years to