Tokyo Gas Engineering Solutions Corp. and a subsidiary of state-owned Thai energy group PTT Public Co. will set up a joint venture to enter the on-site energy business involving liquefied natural gas supply in Thailand.

The wholly owned unit of Japanese utility Tokyo Gas Co. said it has agreed with Siam Management Holdings Co. to form the venture, PTT & TGES Optec Co., in Bangkok in November with the start of operations planned for the January-March quarter of next year.

Capitalized at 60 million baht ($1.8 million), the new firm will be owned 51 percent by Siam Management Holdings and 49 percent by Tokyo Gas Engineering Solutions.

Its business will center on offering an "advanced energy service" with a combination of LNG supply by lorry and various types of generation systems using solar, biomass and thermal power, among others, according to the Japanese company.

Visualization and automatic optimum control of equipment are also among specific features of the service, which will be provided in a country where fuel conversion from liquefied petroleum gas and heavy oil to LNG will proceed rapidly, it said.

Potential customers include factories, utilities and small power producers - businesses benefiting from the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand's scheme to purchase electricity for preferential prices for a long period from small cogeneration and other operators under certain conditions, it added. (NNA/Kyodo)

==Kyodo

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