Today we will start with performance results of Q3 2024 by CEO and CFO, and Q&A. We will address your questions. If you have questions, please use the raise hand function in Microsoft Teams. The team will enable you to ask questions. Otherwise, you can use the chatbot to submit questions.
ค่ะ ซึ่งทางทีมงานของเราค่ะจะรวบรวมคำถาม เพื่อตอบข้อซักถามในช่วงของ Q&A ค่ะ
We'll collect and moderate your questions during the Q&A segment. May I introduce top executives of PTT Group here with us today, starting with Dr. Kongkrapan Intarajang, Chief Executive Officer and President, Pattaralada Sa-ngasang, Chief Financial Officer. We would also like to introduce Wuttikorn Stithit, Chief Operating Officer Upstream Petroleum and Gas Business Group, and Kris Imsang, Chief Operating Officer Downstream Petroleum Business Group.
โดยในช่วงแรกนี้นะคะ ขอเรียนเชิญ CEO ปตท.
So may I give the floor to CEO Dr. Kongkrapan Intarajang to brief you on performance results.
Good morning, greetings once again, dear analyst fund managers. May I will present the overview, and then the CFO will present results. I think this is the first analyst meeting introducing our new CFO officially. PTT Group's vision, we will share with you what updates you on where our strategies are, results, and outlook. Our vision on together for a sustainable Thailand and sustainable world, this is consistent and continuous. May I start with strategy execution, where we stand now? Highlights on business and followed by outlook, and then CFO will share in details performance of the third quarter and nine months of the year on strategy. So we divide into hydrocarbon and power upstream.
May I recap the top part, the blue band, the gist of different business units, what we do per each business, and lower part in green progress, exploration, and production. Because unit cost of PTT EP is quite low, therefore the key success factor is to continue to find new supply sources and keep unit costs low. Whereas for gas, we have to work on cost competitiveness, efficiency enhancement, and working closely with regulators, and it is going well. LNG is another important business where we can create new growth opportunity that we continue to seek, as well as streamlining and achieving synergy. Good progress. PTT EP in Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, and UAE, it has accelerated exploration and development, a number of promising locations in Malaysia. In Thailand, well, in Malaysia, we have a workforce of more than 500. UAE, we are making progress there as well.
Likewise, Myanmar, PTT EP is meeting targets. Gas business working with regulators, be it Ministry of Energy, ERC. We work closely to find optimal benefits for the country while ensuring PTT sustainable business. LNG is critical within our group. We have demand as well as assets. We have Terminal 1 of PTT, Terminal 2 joint venture with EGAT. We have a strong trading team that can source imports and LNG trading opportunities. So these three elements enable us to go deeper. Now we get things in order in Thailand. We are ready to expand beyond power. GPSC, the picture is clear. Apart from maintaining reliability for PTT Group, they champion decarbonization for PTT Group. It can create energy mix of renewable gas and going forward, hydrogen SMR. Therefore, making its electricity output greener, it can enable us to meet the decarbonization target.
GPSC has achieved a lot in its business and strategy plan, what we call electricity energy mix model. The plan is ready. It is being implemented. Downstream, Petchem refineries, we know that it's highly competitive with oversupply, so we need to restructure trading. Enhances our competitiveness worldwide. OR, we wanted to be a mobility partner for Thailand. The investment direction has to be asset light and adjust portfolio appropriately. Progress. If you recall, three, four years ago, we did P1 to foster synergy within the group and share revenues, billions of baht in import-export of products, feedstock. We are implementing D1, which is Domestic One, we look at the whole products portfolios to achieve synergy. This is going to bear fruit next year. Lots of questions concerning our portfolio. Basically, we want to find strong partners to enhance our performance. In any case, flagship is flagship. We value being flagship.
We have to stick to this factor to drive our strategy. Flagship remains sound and strong. Amidst ultra-competitive environment of oil and petchems, we need partners with feedstock market and cutting-edge technology. These are qualities we look for. We have made headway. We have engaged FA to do documents and etc. Not just doing roadshows immediately. We know that people are interested. Trading our network keeps expanding domestically and internationally. OR, we've expanded mainly EV charging stations, and also OR has spun off its non-performing business aligned with the group strategy. What we no longer do well, then we dispose them to be lighter to seek new opportunities. So that's OR's direction. Next on non-hydrocarbon, starting with EV value chain by way of recapping.
We have revisited the issues of where to play, right to play, which part of the value chain where PTT is strong and we should go in. We speed up charging. We are competitive there. We have done single channel to the market, PTT and OR together, expanding to support mobility partnership with OR. We are finalizing various business models, how to expand, how to secure strong partners. These are work in progress. Logistics, the picture is clear. We have to be asset light, sticking to PTT's core business. We are restructuring tank pipelines, optimization, seeking strong partnerships. Things that do not go well, we exit life science. Policy and direction is self-funding from partnerships and seeking alternative fundings going forward. Now we see good results. Lotus in Taiwan is going well. We use Lotus as anchor for expansion.
Apart from pharmaceuticals, there are medtechs, and Innobic is pursuing PTT as investor to support them to grow. Innobic has expert expertise to conduct its business. The key is self-funding, sustainability. This is tied to our growth, as I said last time, to ensure Thailand's energy security. Gas is transition fuel. Thailand has 50% of supply. It will ensure reliability and competitiveness of PTT and the country. The focus is still on gas. We shall continue. It's not possible to do gas without decarbonization, and that's the key success factor for us to stay competitive by coupling gas with decarbonization through hydrogen CCS projects that are progressing well. We have a sustainability framework in place. This is group-wide. We start dialoguing with partners on hydrogen investment, CCS. The plan is clear. Now we are talking with external stakeholders, CCS and hydrogen for industry sectors.
Apart from allowing for profitability and decarbonization, it also presents opportunities. I will give you more details in the future. Operational excellence is something that we can control, and we do well. We have a brilliant track record. Tens of billions reflected back in bottom line. We continue to press ahead. There are rooms to press ahead with EBITDA uplift. We do both outside-in and inside-out engaging consultants, introducing new benchmarks and technologies for us to pursue this within PTT Group. We are conducting due diligence in operations. Lots of rooms in there for EBITDA uplift, maintenance, procurement, sales, and marketing. And we are benefiting from advancements of technology, AI that we can deploy and integrate. Things overlap, for example, digital transformation. We have done quite a bit, and now we are introducing more of AI. In part, it will help with OpEx and improving our work process.
Now we assess organization-wide using new technology. Next year, we will see quick wins for outcomes to be manifested in EBITDA uplift and cost cutting. In terms of human resources, transformation, governance, they go hand in hand alongside digital transformation for corporate culture to be ready for change. It's progressing well. So far, so good. Now we have the numbers and graphs are clear by year-end. We see firm pictures. Now, in our growth picture, we shall decarbonize. We integrate them as part of our business. There are three C's: portfolio shifting, decarbonization of assets, emissions cuts, carbon capture and storage. Now, this is PTT Group-wide picture. PTT and the synergy within the group, starting with climate resilience business, that is portfolio adjustment. For example, PTT has to adjust the portfolio so that carbons from our business decrease.
So we focus on natural gas and LNG as transition fuel, exiting coal, GPSC, where fuel will become greener. So they are gradually retiring coal to focus on gas and augmenting with greener, and eventually SMR, that's electricity. So GPSC outputs will become greener and greener. Or chemicals, GC, IRPC, their carbon footprints per production output in life cycle will decrease. So they will seek specialization to reduce emissions. Asset straightforward across the group. We are implementing efficiency improvement to achieve flare optimization and use less resources, whereas in energy, electricity used from solar, wind, and direct injection of hydrogen, new technologies, and digitalization to optimize plants' operation. So in the end, we should achieve half, but we will have to do it across the group, the coalition. Now, everybody is conscious. They all know to do carbon capture.
If each to each's own, it will take a lot of resources. We will provide the overview to synergize, to optimize techs and midstream PTT functions in two roles: investment in CO2 liquid capture infrastructure, working with regulators in terms of laws, regulations, incentives, and PTT EP captures, so EP can capture in old gas wells or in saline aquifer. Its sandbox is underway in Arthit. PTT EP does the gas separate CO2 at platform and capture CO2 and store. Reforestation we are doing according to target, so in some strategies shared last time, things go according to plan. We monitor number of species rigorously. OpEx transformation of certain businesses. We continue to update key business highlights for third key PTT EP. As I mentioned earlier, they signed long-term agreements LNG with Oman. OR has expanded in a number of ways in non-oil businesses.
The Rest Village project, Ohkajhu, went public with its IPO. GPSC. The mandate on reliability and energy security alongside flagship decarbonizer for PTT Group, GPSC, has been able to successfully pursue its renewables investments abroad, Avaada. In India, we engage stakeholders internally, externally in the past six months to sensitize them about PTT strategies to engage them. This year, we have won SET Awards 2024 for fourth consecutive year Innovative Company Awards, Sustainability Awards, IAA Awards for Corporate Excellence. I thank you all. Now let's look at Q3 key drivers. Oil prices. Oil prices down from start of the year. Dubai, Petc hem stabilized and heading downward. Aromatics start to decrease while polymer remains the same. However, key performance in the lower part of the chart according to businesses, upstream and gas help a lot year to date.
In the middle, you will see that our net income this year compared to last year more or less the same, improved by 2%. The CFO will share more details. Exclude extraordinary items, non-recurring items. We have to adjust for. We divest assets or monetize assets. We have gains along, well, offset with impairments in chemicals such as Asahi, about THB 8 billion. They offset each other, impairment and divestment gain. External items, FX stock gains, stock loss in NRV are bundled together. They are positive. Let's wait for year-end to be definite. These balance each other out, be it assets or extra items. In terms of business, we are affected by Single Pool gas price policy in shortfall, nine months to the tune of THB 10 billion. Overall, our net income stays the same, meaning that businesses on their own improved slightly from last year.
My last slide before CFO outlook for next year. GDP up slightly globally and Thailand more or less the same. Gas is interesting next year. JKM, LNG remain pretty much the same. However, Henry Hub, which is benchmark for gas price, Henry Hub up considerably. Typically, we see $2 or so. Next year is projected to rise significantly due to the IRA, Trump's drilling policies resulting in more supply, more export onto the market, so more supply into the world market. We have to monitor oil outlook. Next year should be softer for Dubai. For oil, it is projected to decrease. GRM next year should be lower than this year, so that's a market consensus in light of more supply.
OPEC may not be able to cap and control supply, and continue the soft demand should result in last year, and Petc hem some improve, some soften, more or less the same. Demand supply upside would only be that if demand increases, economic improves, then it will be better. With all these factors, extreme volume-wise should be better. PTT EP consistently successful in increasing its volume and maintenance of unit cost selling price. Overall, we have to monitor Henry Hub, JKM. This we shall see. Gas business yield rate of GSP should improve next year. Petc hem likewise better. Gas cost should remain stable. Demand of natural gas in Thailand should be more. We should be able to bring forth more Gulf of Thailand gas downstream. If GDP is better, volume should improve to some extent. Petc hem refinery should remain the same. GRM softer, lower yield rates.
However, Petc hem upside would be demand already hitting rock bottom two years, and new supply should not be a lot. Power domestic consumption should pick up next year alongside recovery. Downward trend of feed cost is projected. For non-hydrocarbon, we continue with restructuring of life science portfolio. So thank you. May I hand the floor to the CFO?
ก็วันนี้ก็มาคุยกันสักนิดนึงนะคะ เป็นครั้งแรกของพี่ แต่ก็พยายามจะสื่อความนะคะ สาระสำคัญที่มีผลกระทบต่อผลประกอบการของกลุ่มปตท.
ในไตรมาส 3 แล้วก็ 9 เดือนนี้นะคะ ลองไปดูหน้าแรกนะคะ หน้านี้ก็คงเป็นที่คุ้นเคยอยู่แล้วนะคะ ก็ดู Top Line Revenue ดู EBITDA ซึ่งก็คือ Cash Profit ในเชิงนั้นนะคะ แล้วก็ดู Net Income ก็จะเห็นความแตกต่างนะคะ ด้านซ้ายจะเห็นว่า Revenue เนี่ย จริงๆ ถ้าดูทั้งปีเนี่ยเพิ่มขึ้น 1% นะคะ ก็จริงๆ อานิสงส์ก็คงมาจากการที่ราคา ปริมาณการขายในหลายๆ Segment เนี่ยดีขึ้น สูงขึ้นนะคะ แต่ถ้าหากเหลือบไปดู Q3 เนี่ย มันก็จะลดลงตามภาวะเศรษฐกิจนะคะ ในช่วง Q3 ก็จะเห็นว่ามันก็ผ่านฤดูร้อนนะคะ ซึ่งใช้ไฟฟ้าซึ่งใช้ก๊าซมากใน Q2 มาเป็นฤดูฝนนะคะ แล้วก็ปัจจัยภาวะเศรษฐกิจที่เขาไม่ค่อยดี ก็ทำให้ปริมาณการขายของก๊าซเนี่ยอาจจะอ่อนลงนะคะ แต่ถ้ามาดูทาง EBITDA ซึ่งเป็นอาจจะเป็น Cash Profit ตัวที่เปรียบเทียบได้เนี่ยนะคะ ก็จะเห็นว่า ตัว 9 เดือนเนี่ยค่ะ ก็จะอ่อนตัวลงบ้างนะคะ จริงๆ แล้ว 300,000 ล้านบาทเนี่ยนะคะ ก็ถือเป็นระดับที่มั่นคง แต่ก็จะอ่อนตัวจากธุรกิจที่เป็น P&R ถ้ามองข้างล่างในพายชาร์ต P&R ที่เป็นสีชมพูก็ย่อตัวลงนะคะ เพราะว่าใน Q3 เนี่ย เรื่องของปัจจัยกดดันจาก Oversupply นะคะ Stock Loss แล้วก็เรื่องของค่าการกลั่นที่ลดลงเนี่ย ก็จะเป็นตัวดึงฉุดให้ตัว Q3 ของปีนี้ลดลงจาก 100,000 ล้านบาท เหลือ 68,000 ล้านบาท แล้วก็ดึงทั้งปีลงบ้างนะคะ แต่อยอย่างไรก็ตาม มาดูที่ Net Income นะคะ Net Income ก็หมายถึงว่าหลังจากที่ EBITDA ปุ๊บ ก็มาหักค่าเสื่อมราคานะคะ หักเรื่องของดอกเบี้ยจ่ายแล้วรายการพิเศษ ก็จะเห็นว่าใน Q3 เนี่ย ตัว Net Income ของกลุ่มเนี่ยลดลงจาก 35,000 เป็น 16,000 อันนี้ก็มีสาระสำคัญส่วนใหญ่นะคะ จากรายการพิเศษ ซึ่งถ้าให้พี่ไฮไลท์ตามนี้ก็คงเป็นว่าใน Q2 เนี่ยก็จะมีกำไรพิเศษจากการขาย Asset นะคะ 1 รายการประมาณ 4,000 กว่าล้านบาท ในขณะที่ Q3 เนี่ยมีเรื่องของการจัด Impairment ของบริษัทในกลุ่มปิโตรเคมีคอลนะคะ อย่างไรก็ตาม หากไปดูทั้งปี 9 เดือนก่อนนะคะ จะเห็นว่าเขา Manage ได้ดีในมุมมองของยังทรงตัวขึ้นประมาณ 2% อยู่ที่ 8,762 ล้านบาท ซึ่งถ้า Break Down ดูว่าเป็นลักษณะธุรกิจที่เป็น Core Business เนี่ยนะคะ ก็เป็นตัว Major หลักนะคะ อาจจะมีซัก 5% นะคะ อยู่เป็นสีน้ำเงินเข้ม อันนั้นก็จะเป็น Non-Hydrocarbon Business ซึ่งจริงๆ แล้วตัวที่มันเพิ่มขึ้นมาจาก 9 เดือนปีที่แล้ว
So we see the non-recurring items.
One item in Europe, and that's Innobic, and that's about THB 4 billion. Now, the major contributors is EP, followed by PTT. So the first line and the second line, PTT, we have the gas trading, which is the highlight. While for P&R , well, this is not so good because of oversupply, the economic slowdown, and stock loss. But for others, 22%, we have extraordinary items, the divestment of PTT LNG, some part to our partners. Next, this one we would break it down by each company under PTT Group. We have about 200, 300, 6 flagship companies, and these 6 flagship companies are the major contributors to the group. To our left, Q3, that's about THB 35 billion. That's our net profit is softened by 50% to THB 16 billion. Like previously mentioned, there are non-recurring items.
In Q2, we have the extra gain, but in Q3, we have the impairment, and if we exclude those non-recurring items, this gray box without the non-recurring items, it would be softened by about 14%, mainly from P&R business and the stock loss because of the softened crude oil price in Q3. Looking down here, breaking down by each business, starting from gas, it's increased more than 100%, mainly from the softened gas cost. We would be having some loss for tradings among our flagships, all already declared their performance. For E&P, sales volume softened Q on Q. At the same time, if we look at the first nine months, like the CEO has mentioned, performance is quite strong because there's the upsetting of the business as usual.
For the extraordinary item, the impairment of the investment and the divestment gain, including external factors like FX gain, but weakened quite a lot at THB 37 in September. So that's offsetting our stock loss because the crude oil price, average crude oil price, is down by 10%, and to end is about $5. Now, to the waterfall account, starting at the beginning, we started at THB 79 billion. For the red boxes, these are the boxes that would cut down on our performance. For example, the margin, which is quite ordinary. GDP doesn't grow well. So all the margin of all products, trading, refinery, petrochemical was highly pressured. Stock loss, crude oil price down a lot compared with last year. And then we have OpEx, it's increased a little bit according to the inflation. Then we have DD&A, that's increased by around THB 15 billion.
For the positive factor, we have other incomes, which is the extraordinary items, including FX gain and other extraordinary items. For tax, the baseline income decreased, so CIT decreased. So offsetting, we ended at THB 80 billion. So everything is offsetting among one another. Now, to the gas business and trading business, before we go to the cash flow and the P&L and then the balance sheet. Now, coming to the gas key drivers, we have Q1, Q and year on year. Right here, we would see the average pool gas price compared with last year and this year. You would see that the average pool gas price of last year is higher from average whole year of this year. Q on Q, Q3 this year and Q2 this year, you would see that gas cost is up by a little bit.
It affects our performance in line with this key driver. For the economy this year, overall, the use of gas and the performance of gas separation plant yield rate is increasing. For the first nine months of this year, the yield rate of GSP increased by 10% to 83.5% because we have a G1/61, which we have more production. But Q on Q, Q3 compared to Q2 of this year, it's softened by a little bit as the demand from industrial sectors is down. But the overall picture, we are doing better than last year. Now, coming to the EBITDA of gas business, for the overall picture, even though we see higher yield rate of GSP, but looking at EBITDA of nine months, it's softened by 1% with extraordinary item offsetting.
For example, for the significant one, you would see the GSP, which is down from THB 16 billion to THB 5 billion, mainly from single pool policy. The second one, the gray block here, others increasing from THB 8.5 billion to THB 11 billion. So that's the divestment gain in Q1 from PTT, LNG. So we have a THB 4 billion more. But for other business, it's adjusted according to the increasing sales volume, S&M and TM. Now, trading business, trading business supports the group performance for the procurement of feed stock and also for sales, including out-out trading. Profit each quarter is around THB 2 billion to THB 3 billion . But in Q3, it's weakened quite significantly because they have imported crude oil and we have some cargoes in transit while mark-to-market loss occurred and margin also dropped quite a lot.
It reported its performance at THB 6.6 billion, and year to date is softened also according to lower trading margin, trading volume, and trading margin. All in all, two businesses, gas and trading businesses and six flagship companies, as you might know well, their financial position, PTT Group still has the total assets as high as THB 3 trillion. Looking at the key financial ratios, we are quite strong and stable. Net Debt to EBITDA is at 1.8. The threshold is around 2. Net Debt to Equity is 0.44, and the threshold is no higher than 1. To your left, you would see that cash is down a little bit from THB 440 billion to THB 393 billion. This is to repay the debts and in some major investments.
For the AP, AR, it is down a little bit according to the price and the cost of feed stock and crude oil, which is lower than the previous year. For total equity, it's higher. But we also pay the dividend. Now, total equity is THB 1,500 billion. For the credit rating, our PTT rating is quite stable, Baa1 from Moody's, BB B+ from S&P Global and Fitch Ratings. Now, to PTT consolidated cash flow, starting we have about THB 449 billion. Short-term investment and cash equivalent, this is cash. Now, for our expenditures, the operating cash flow of the group is THB 254 billion. While for the investing, this is our CapEx and mainly is the investing in our flagship business. The major one is the investment of PTT EP, and that's THB 142 billion. So we have the free cash flow coming in at THB 111 billion.
For the financing, that's THB 176 billion, so we take care of our shareholders so that we pay the dividend payment, and also we pay according to capacity, but we would keep it no lower than peers, so we pay dividend of about THB 81 billion. For the whole group, some company, we have to take care of the gearing so that the debt is not too high, and when we do the asset monetization, we would repay the loan earlier than due date, so for the loan repayment, that's around THB 90 billion. Apart from that, that is not material, but we would pay back THB 176 billion according to our financing. For the cash ending, it's THB 393 billion for the whole group, so this is quite stable compared to our total asset of THB 3 trillion.
So we would take care of our investment so that this we have enough cash to pay for our investment for the coming period and also to stabilize the performance of the group. Now, to PTT Group financial strategy, what is happening in 2024 and a little bit earlier, we see that our business is the business that is mostly in commodity. So it is quite secure like gas and electricity. But for the external factors, we also encounter some difficulties. But we would give priority in keeping cash. So when cash is king, we can improve our yield, invest our cash for the return. The second one is OpEx control. So we rationalize our expenditures, which is appropriate for each group. For the first nine months, for the whole group, we can save costs about 8% of the budget.
For some, there is zero, but for some, we would increase. So 8% save, it's about THB 13 billion for the whole group. So this is what we can do internally. Third of all, we look forward into the future and how can we divest ourselves and find strategic partner. We would look for non-competitive assets and then to book impairments in advance so that can optimize our performance and to stabilize our performance. For the first nine months, we look into the timing of the divestment of our non-competitive assets to match the seeking of our strategic partner so that we can also at the same time have some more divestment gain. So for the financial, we try to arrange refinancing to do the fundraising and also to negotiate for our financial support to support our performance. So this is quite going well.
We also do the project financing specifically for some businesses because for some business, we have to provide special project financing to replace the shareholders' portion. So this is our main mission. Also, we look into green financing. And what is of your interest, for sure, the revisit of CapEx, five-year CapEx plan, CEO and chairman upstream and COO upstream and downstream. We are looking into this plan. And next year, we can communicate with the capital markets. Next year is our challenging year. We get the strategies from the CEO. So we would focus on EBITDA uplift, portfolio rationalization, asset monetization. For the financing, we would use AI to support the CF.