chatchai@gulfpetroleummyanmar.com A former Fulbright scholar, Chatchai Yenbamroong graduated with a B.A in Political Science from Thammasat University and M.A. in Journalism from Northwestern University, U.S.A. He started his career in Bangkok Post in 1979 and rose to become its News Editor and Sub-editor between 1983-1987. He then joined AT&T Thailand as Public Affairs Manager and later as Business Development Manager. In 1991, he helped Shinawatra Group take over the failing Yellow Pages subsidiary of AT&T Thailand and helped turn it into its most profitable subsidiary at that time.
He is founder, owner and Executive Director of Northern Gulf Petroleum Pte. Ltd., an independent oil and gas exploration company in Thailand. Northern Gulf was awarded three offshore exploration blocks in the Gulf of Thailand. Two of the three blocks have yielded two oil and gas discoveries (the Manora oil field and Rossukon oil and gas field) and granted a 20-year production licenses. He later acquired 25% of Tap Oil, an ASX-listed company, and 13% of TSX-listed Pan Orient Energy, becoming its largest shareholder.
From 2007 to 2011, Chatchai was a major shareholder of Akara Mining Co. Ltd., the largest gold and silver mining company in Thailand. He is also the largest individual shareholder of Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. (KCN), an ASX listed company, the parent company of Akara Mining. He sold all his shares in KCN and Akara in 2010-11 to finance his oil and gas start-up NGP and its expansion after commercial discoveries in 2009-10. From 2003 to 2013, Chatchai was a Co-Founder and Director of Advance Information Technology (AIT), one of the leading system integrator specialized in supplying network solutions to corporate as well as state enterprises. AIT has been listed on the SET since August 2003. From 1995 to 2005, Chatchai owned Advance Communication Myanmar Company, the official Yellow Pages publisher for Myanmar Post and Telecommunications under a 10-year license, after selling off a official Yellow Pages franchise for the whole of Vietnam to Telstra of Australia in 1997, just before the Asian Financial Crisis.
Chatchai served as an Advisor to the Prime Minister of Thailand in 1996-1997 along with the late Professor Surasak Nanakul.