Fuel consumption up on Govt policy

Virapol Jirapraditkul, director-general of the department, said that after the government decreased the levy to the Oil Fund on August 26, the retail price of 91 and 95 octane and diesel had dropped by Bt7.17, Bt8.02 and Bt3 per litre respectively. As a result, the consumption of octane 91 and 95 has soared, while demand for gasohol 91 and 95 has fallen. E20 and E85 have not been affected by this measure as demand has remained steady at 0.7 and 0.0029 million litres per day, respectively.

Consumption of 91 and 95 octane increased 19 per cent from 7.2 million litres per day to 8.6 million litres per day, while Gasohol 91 and 95 decreased 6 per cent from 11.8 million litres per day to 11.2 million litres per day.

After the government reduced the levy from gasohol to the Oil Fund, the difference in the retail price of 91, 95 octane and gasohol 91, 95 has gone from Bt0.23-Bt2.28 per litre to Bt3.09-Bt3.95 per litre respectively. As a result in the first two weeks of September, demand for 91 and 95 octane decreased to 10 million litres per day from 15 million litres per day prior to the end of August.

Virapol said that his department took inventory of oil traders and filling stations all over the country. Initial results determined that all filling stations had an inventory of 91 octane at 38.415 million litres, 95 octane at 1.719 million litres and diesel at 129.658 million litres. Total compensation required was Bt650 million.

Inventory of 91 octane at 17 oil traders was 108.889 million litres, 95 octane at 5.374 million litres and diesel at 814.495 million litres. The total compensation was set at Bt3.1 billion.

The total compensation that needs to be paid to both oil traders and filling stations was Bt3.8 billion.

Demand for high-speed diesel was not significantly changed. It increased 0.4 per cent to 49.3 million litres per day from the previous month. The lack of change was from a smaller price cut and perhaps even a drop in demand due to the Noch Ten depression and the monsoon that flooded many areas of the country recently.

Consumption of NGV increased 2.4 per cent to 6.9 million kg per day. At the end of August, there were 283,431 cars able to use NGV and 421 NGV filling stations.

LPG consumption increased 1.2 per cent from 562,500 tonnes per month or 18,200 tonnes per day to 569,500 tonnes per month or 18,370 per day. Household usage was 238,400 tonnes per month or 7,700 tonnes per day, an increase of 5.6 per cent. Transport consumption remained steady at 89,300 tonnes per month or 2,900 tonnes per day. Industry and petrochemical usage had a decrease of 3.4 and 2.8 per cent respectively.

LPG demand by industry decreased after the retail price of LPG used by households declined by Bt3 per kg on July 19. In August, the import of LPG stayed at 159,600 tonnes and the Oil Fund had to pay compensation estimated at Bt2.8 billion.

Total petrol imports increased 9 per cent to 971,000 barrels per day from the previous month. The total cost was Bt102 billion. Crude oil accounted for 899,000 barrels per day and cost Bt96 billion.

Ready-to-use petrol accounted for 71,000 barrels per day, an increase of 24 per cent and cost Bt5.6 billion. The country exported 282,000 barrels of ready-to-use petrol, generating Bt31 billion, up 22 per cent from last month.