Thai IRPC sees 2007 net profit below forecasts

BANGKOK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Thailand's IRPC IRPC.BK said on Monday it expected its 2007 net profit to rise almost half to about 10 billion baht ($293 million), below analyst forecasts, amid high crude prices.

The firm expected average refining margins in the second half of 2007, including petrochemical products, would be close to the $11-$12 a barrel of the first half, company chief marketing officer Suphon Tubtimcharoon told reporters.

"High crude prices hit our profits in the last two months of last year. We are more careful of the crude order this year and we aim for a net profit of 10 billion baht for the year," Suphon said.

U.S. light crude for November delivery CLc1 was at $87.75 a barrel in Globex electronic trading at 0514 GMT. U.S. oil settled down 87 cents at $88.60 a barrel on Friday after touching an all-time high of $90.07.

Six analysts polled by Reuters Estimates had forecast a 2007 net profit of 12.2 billion baht for IPRC, up 79 percent from 6.8 billion baht in 2006. It made a net profit of 8.02 billion baht in the first half.

The company posted a sharp drop in profits in 2006 due mainly to a major shutdown and heavy losses on oil stocks. It has no shutdown scheduled this year.

IRPC, formerly Thai Petrochemical Industry, operates Southeast Asia's largest fully-integrated petrochemical complex.

Its refinery is running at 190,000 barrels per day this year, up from about 170,000 bpd last year. It has an olefins capacity of 728,000 tonnes a year and an aromatics capacity of 367,000 tonnes a year.

The company planned to spend 1.3-1.4 billion baht over the next five years on expanding refinery and petrochemicals capacity, Sophon said.