KBZ, PTT Ink Petrol Agreements

By The Irrawaddy 10 June 2019

YANGON—The privately owned Kanbawza Group of Companies (KBZ), of Myanmar, and the Thai state-owned PTT Public Company (PTT) have signed two partnership agreements to invest in fuel oil storage and retail distribution in Myanmar, according to a KBZ press release.

On Sunday, two branches of KBZ—the Brighter Energy Company Ltd. and the Brighter Energy Retail Company Ltd.— signed two major agreements with PTT subsidiary PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Co. Ltd. (PTTOR).

Under a Development of Oil Terminal agreement, the two will construct a fuel oil storage tank and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) filling plant, to be completed by 2021. The storage tank will be the largest of its kind in Myanmar. The agreement also includes management of jetty, oil storage terminal and wholesale business of petroleum.

Under a separate Retail Business Expansion agreement, they will open 70 petrol filling stations across the country by 2023. According to KBZ, each filling station will include a Café Amazon, a minimart and a money exchange counter, in addition to other facilities.

PTTOR chairman Auttapol Rerkpiboon said the PTT stations will encourage the development of the local small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) they partner with at filling station facilities.

PTTOR is one of Thailand’s largest oil and LPG distributors, with over 2,000 filling stations in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines.

KBZ Group of Companies is one of the largest privately-owned companies in Myanmar, with investments in mining, banking, finance, aviation, insurance, manufacturing, agriculture, real

estate, trading, healthcare, tourism and hospitality. Its main assets include KBZ Bank, which holds a leading market share of 38 percent; I-KBZ; Air KBZ; Myanmar Airways International and The Kempinski Hotel (NPT).

The Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) began allowing foreign investment in the petrol sector in April 2017. According to the Ministry of Electricity of Energy, as of May 2019 the MIC had approved nearly 2,500 private filling stations across the country.

In April, PetroChina International opened its first station in Yangon, a joint venture with Shwe Taung Energy Co., a subsidiary of the Shwe Taung Group.

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