Q&A with Maroot Mrigadat

Abstract

Maroot Mrigadat has been President of PTT Exploration and Production plc (PTTEP), Thailand’s leading petroleum exploration and production company, since October 2003. His major responsibilities include managing the exploration, development, and production activities of 23 oil and gas assets in seven countries, overseeing the company’s 1,000 employees, and implementing PTTEP’s corporate strategic goals and investment strategy. He also oversees the management of PTTEP’s two non-E&P investment projects. Mrigadat started his career in 1979 with the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, now PTT plc, as an engineer in the company’s E&P department. In 1984, he became Director of its Drilling and Production Div. and in 1988 became Assistant President, Management, responsible for human resources, procurement, finance, accounting and budget, and corporate policies. He joined PTTEP in 1989 as Vice President, Production, in charge of reservoir engineering, drilling, facility, and construction, and was later promoted to Vice President, Operations, a post he held from 1994 to 1997. In 1997, Mrigadat became General Manager Designated, Bongkot Project, and was later named Vice President, Bongkot Project, responsible for the operatorship transfer from Total to PTTEP. In 1999, he was appointed Senior Vice President, Operations, in charge of the Bongkot, Arthit, and PTTEP 1 projects. During 2002 and 2003, he was Senior Vice President, Business Development, in charge of formulating investment strategy for company growth in southeast Asia and internationally. Mrigadat is Chairman and Director of 11 PTTEP subsidiaries. His other positions include Director of Thai Oil Power Co., Director of Carigali-PTTEPI Operating Co. Sdn. Bhd., Director of Moattama Gas Transportation Co., Director of Energy Complex Co. Ltd., and Council of Trustee Member of the Petroleum Inst. of Thailand. Mrigadat earned BS and MS degrees in petroleum engineering from the U. of Texas at Austin. What is your company’s current domestic and international oil and gas production? PTTEP’s domestic production this year is approximately 132,000 BOE/D. Gas and condensate from the Gulf of Thailand and small onshore fields constitute 82% of this daily production. Internationally, we hold equity in several producing offshore gas assets in Myanmar. This adds an additional 37,000 BOE/D of production to our portfolio. We are also developing a small gas and condensate field onshore Oman, and production should be on stream next year. Although production will be small initially, we are hopeful that it will increase significantly in the near future. Equally important is that the Oman development represents a key milestone in our company’s expansion into the Middle East region. What are PTTEP’s oil and gas production goals? Our goal is quite simple. We want to quadruple our production by the year 2020. We also want to increase oil production to the pro-portion of gas in our portfolio. Currently, gas accounts for a large percentage of our portfolio. What are PTTEP’s most attractive upstream areas? In terms of current holdings, the Gulf of Thailand and the Gulf of Mottaban in Myanmar are very attractive. We see good prospects in Oman not just upstream but midstream as well. In terms of future growth, our focus is not so different from many oil companies. The Middle East continues to attract interest. Africa holds promise, particularly with recent major discoveries offshore. We also believe that Indonesia holds tremendous potential.