Ministry to revamp LPG, NGV prices amid slide in Dubai crude
THE ENERGY MINISTRY aims to make good use of the downtrend in Dubai crude-oil prices to restructure prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas for vehicles (NGV) completely this year.
Energy Minister Narongchai Akrasanee said yesterday after the meeting of the Energy Policy Administration Committee that the Dubai oil price would continue declining this year.
Last month, Dubai oil was fetching US$55.89 per barrel, lower than the $55-$65 estimated by the ministry. This low Dubai oil price indicates that the natural gas price is expected to fall.
The ministry hopes to finish raising the LPG excise tax for transport use and adjusting the NGV price to reflect actual cost this year, by taking advantage of the expected drop in the natural gas price.
The ministry started the LPG price restructuring last year. The retail price of LPG already reflected the actual cost this February. However, the ministry has yet to raise the LPG excise.
For NGV, the ministry has gradually raised the retail price to Bt13 per kilogram from Bt10.50 last year, but it has yet to reflect the actual price.
This year, the ministry aims to completely adjust the NGV price to reflect actual cost by leveraging on the trend of falling crude oil price.
The Energy Policy Administration Committee decided to maintain the LPG retail price at Bt23.96 per kilogram.
It also resolved to increase the contribution of LPG to the Oil Fund by about 12 satang to Bt1.07 per kilogram, after the sliding cost of procuring LPG by traders. The increase takes effect today.
The LPG contribution to the Oil Fund as of June 28 showed cash of Bt7.39 billion.
