The following may be attributed to Toasaporn Boonyapipat, President and CEO, PTTGC America LLC:

As PTTGC America LLC continues to make significant progress on the feasibility evaluation of a petrochemical complex development project in Ohio, it is important to us that we update all of our partners and the Belmont County community regarding our project timeline. We now anticipate reaching a final investment decision in late 2017, which is several months later than we originally announced.

Over the past two years, PTTGC America has been working with two engineering, procurement and construction contractors to complete the engineering design work of the complex. Upon receipt of their initial plans, we recognized a need for further discussions with each of them so that we will be in a stronger position to make our decision on the engineering design and the economic feasibility of this project. We expect this process to take several additional months, delaying PTTGC America’s ability to reach a final investment decision. For some in the Belmont County community, especially the project area residents, we recognize this delay may cause further uncertainty and inconvenience, but we hope that the strong support we have received to date will continue.

PTTGC America considers this process to be critical to the success of the project. We are committed to utilizing all of our resources in order to ensure that all technical and economic criteria are met. PTTGC America realizes the significance of the development of the project, as it would create thousands of construction jobs, hundreds of full-time jobs and substantial investments that will provide lasting socio-economic benefits to nearby communities, the State of Ohio and the entire region.

To date, we have made good progress on the development of the project. A number of commercial arrangements have been prepared with various parties, including feedstock and utility suppliers, product marketers and logistics providers. We have already received three environmental permits in conjunction with the site preparation that has been progressing. In addition, with the strong support of JobsOhio, FirstEnergy and Ohio/West Virginia Excavating Co., significant site preparation has been completed over the past year, including environmental remediation and the demolition of the FirstEnergy Burger Power Plant. And, we continue to have fruitful meetings and discussions with community leaders and residents of the project area.

PTTGC America wishes to express our sincere gratitude to the State of Ohio, Gov. John Kasich and his administration, JobsOhio, the state legislature, U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson and the state’s entire congressional delegation, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Belmont County, Mead Township, Dilles Bottom residents and all other individuals who have worked with us on the petrochemical complex development project. All have made an enormous impression on us with their enthusiasm and support of the project.

Finally, PTTGC America would like to emphasize our full willingness and desire to further develop this project. We believe that this added step will lead to a sufficient level of information needed in order to move forward with the complex. We greatly appreciate the continuous support of all who are working to make this project happen.