Bangchak Executives Share Insights at the Norway-Asia Business Summit 2023

Rawee Boonsinsukh, Executive Vice President, Innovation and New S-Curve Business Development, Bangchak Corporation Public Company Limited, and Komut Maneechai, Vice President, BCPR Pte. Ltd., joined as speaker and panelist at the Norway-Asia Business Summit (NABS) 2023 organized by the Thai-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce between 30 November to 1 December 2023 at Avani+ Riverside Bangkok Hotel. The Summit attracted about 500 participants, including Norwegian industry leaders, government support units from Norway, and the Norwegian diplomatic missions from across Asia.

During the session on Electric Vehicle Landscape, Rawee presented an overview of Electric Vehicle 2 Wheelers (EV2W) business in Thailand, highlighting the growth opportunities in the EV2W industry. He explained how this served as an impetus for the development of Winnonie, the first Thai startup to pioneer the EV motorcycles service platform with an automatic battery swapping network. Winnonie aims to be a leader in the Battery as a Service (BaaS) platform for EV bikes to meet the increasing demand for clean energy electric motorcycle usage. Presently, Winnonie has about 1,000 users, and has an opportunity to expand its business in line with national and global trends.

On successful business investments in Norway, Komut remarked on the expansion of investments in upstream business in the natural resources sector. Bangchak invested in OKEA ASA through BCPR Company Limited, which operates exploration and production (E&P) business and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. This investment allowed Bangchak to access energy, resources, and technologies that enhance energy security, provide experience, knowledge, and expertise in upstream businesses for Bangchak Group. In addition to strategic growth and business capability enhancement, Norway is a country with rich crude oil and natural gas resources, clean energy policies and targets, and measures and policies (such as tax incentives) conducive to long-term business growth. OKEA currently operates six oil fields in the Norwegian sea, with a production capacity of 23,700 barrels of oil per day (boed), with crude accounting for 68%, natural gas 24%, and liquefied natural gas 8%. In the first quarter of 2023, OKEA signed an agreement for the acquisition of the Statfjord petroleum field, which will increase OKEA’s production capacity by the end of 2023 to approximately 37,500 barrels per day.

The Norway-Asia Business Summit (NABS), first organized in 1998, is organized by the Thai-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce to strengthen trade and investments between Norway and Asia and enhance cross border cooperation among leading institutions, companies, and technology cluster. Bangchak is a leading company in Thailand with investments in Norway through OKEA ASA.