Thailand Shelves $7 Billlion Thai Oil “Land Bridge”

Thailand has shelved its ambitious $7.3 billion plan for an oil “land bridge” after the Dec. 26 tsunami made potential investors question its safety and viability, a senior Energy Ministry official said on Tuesday. “Tsunami risks around where the sea ports would be built have been raised and we need to address those,” Metta Banterngsuk, head of the ministry’s policy and planning office, told reporters. “Our potential partners believe it is a good project, but they say it is not commercially viable yet” and rising costs of construction material like steel and cement also made it more expensive, he said.