Pipe firm plans 600-million-dollar Thai plant

Canadoil to invest 625 million dollars in Thai metal plant. Canadoil Group on Thursday announced a 20-billion-baht (625-million-dollar) investment in Thailand to build a production plant for the steel plates it uses to manufacture pipes. The new plate mill, to be located in Rayong province, will be fully operational by 2012, Canadoil executives said. "Today's announcement marks an important new era in our commitment to Thailand as our operational headquarters," Canadoil Group's chief executive officer Giacomo Sozzi said. The new facility, Canadoil Plate Ltd, is to produce high grade alloy and steel plates, of the type used by other manufacturing companies in the group. The group, whose corporate headquarters are in Canada, produces specialized pipes for oil and gas projects, and first entered the Thai market 10 years ago. The new plant will be located alongside Canadoil Group's pipe factory in Rayong, about 120 kilometres east of Bangkok. The announcement comes as Thailand is reeling from anti-government protests which gripped the capital from March to May, leaving 89 people dead and parts of the city in flames. Foreign investment has also suffered from a Supreme Court ruling last year against a score of multinationals and Thai conglomerates. The companies had to put planned investments in Rayong on hold after they were found to have failed to conduct proper assessments of the environmental impact of the projects on the surrounding communities. The Eastern Seaboard, which includes Chon Buri and Rayong provinces, is Thailand's main industrial zone which has attracted hundreds of petrochemical, chemical and automotive manufacturing factories over the past two decades.