BANGKOK, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production Pcl PTTEP.BK , the upstream arm of energy giant PTT Group PTT.BK , reported on Thursday a third-quarter loss of $264 million, after booking a further $558-million impairment charge on its stalled Mariana Oil Sands project in Canada.
PTTEP said it has delayed its final investment decision on the project "after assessment of the industry and commercial feasibility studies". This is the company's third writedown on the project, amounting to a total of $1.8 billion company, which reported a 2 percent rise in third-quarter sales to $1 billion due to higher oil and gas production volumes and prices. Gas sales from its Malaysia-Thai Joint Development areas were higher, while shutdown periods were shorter in its Bongkot fields.
PTTEP has budgeted $4 billion for capital expenditure including mergers and acqusitions, the company said, adding that it would target "producing assets or those which are in the final stage of development" in Southesat Asia and other areas with high potential and low risk. the rest of 2017 it aims to maintain an oil and gas sales volume in Thailand of around 300,000 boed (barrels of oil equivalent per day) and estimates costs to be running at $29/boe for the rest of the year.