PTT still to give up pipelines

PTT still to give up pipelines

PTT Plc, the national oil and gas conglomerate, has not handed over any offshore gas transmission pipelines but has relinquished some onshore ones to the Finance Ministry as required by a court ruling.

All the pipelines have a value of 32.6 billion baht.

PTT has returned only some of its onshore gas pipelines worth 16.1 billion baht to the ministry, said Chaisit Trachutham, chairman of the State Audit Commission.

The dispute as to whether PTT has returned all gas pipelines to the state as required by the court is catching the public's interest.

The National Council for Peace and Order has backed the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) in asking the Council of State to interpret the Supreme Administrative Court's October 2007 ruling against PTT on asset transfers to the Finance Ministry.

The court ruled PTT's 2001 initial public offering was legitimate but ordered the energy firm to return gas pipelines and some land to the state on the grounds they were regarded as national assets.

However, PTT handed over only some onshore gas pipelines that had been installed before the 2001 partial privatisation to the Finance Ministry, while the OAG considered any natural gas pipelines regardless of whether they were onshore or offshore must be counted as state assets since they had been installed by a state enterprise.

In 2008, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled PTT had already given back all court-ruled assets to the Finance Ministry.

"If the execution is not correct or all assets have not been completely transferred, it is the duty of the Supreme Administrative Court to make it clear as to whether such a handover has been completely done. If some assets have not been returned yet, it must be corrected, and it's not considered to be overruling," Mr Chaisit said.

He said the Council of State's interpretation would clear up the dispute.

Auditor-general Pisit Leelavachiropas said the OAG had raised the issue that PTT had not returned all natural gas pipelines to the state since 2009 and again issued a letter to the Finance Ministry in November 2012.

Finance Minister Sommai Phasee said his ministry must wait for the interpretation of the court ruling by the Council of State. He also plans to discuss the issue with Energy Minister Narongchai Akrasanee soon.

PTT shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 368 baht, up two baht, in heavy trade worth 2.56 billion baht.

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