Ministry's five-part strategy to meet energy demand
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The Energy Ministry has formulated a five-pronged strategy for this year to meet rising energy demand as the economy expands.
The first is to develop infrastructure, including oil pipelines and the Land Bridge.
The second is to enhance national energy security through the opening of bidding for petroleum concessions, improvement of the power development plan and the implementation of the strategic oil reserve plan.
Third is to rationalise the electricity tariff and upgrade to Euro 4 low-pollutant motor-fuel quality.
Fourth is to promote alternative energy by implementing the 2012-22 alternative energy development plan and banning sales of 91-octane petrol in October.
The last one is to continue the implementation of the 2011-30 plan to promote maximum energy efficiency and to assist flood-hit factories to convert to energy-efficient equipment.
Recently Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said the highlights of the ministry next year could be summarised as “oil pipe, oilfield, and oil depot”.
“Pipe” refers to the construction of oil pipelines, “oilfield” to its negotiations with parties on oil and gas exploration, and “depot” to the construction of a depot for the strategic oil reserve.
The ministry still has an urgent case to handle – the protest against its raising of energy prices across the board, which will take effect on January 16.
The ministry will meet with truck operators next Thursday to learn about the possible impacts from the hike in the price of natural gas for vehicles.
The ministry has thought carefully and considered all the facts before making the decision to raise the NGV price gradually by a total of Bt6 per kilogram this year, Pichai said.
According to the energy outlook this year, demand will expand along with economic growth, which was forecast at 4.5-5.5 per cent by the National Social and Economic Development Board.
Economic growth will be driven by state spending on restoration in the post-flood era.
This will boost demand for finished oil products by 3.3 per cent, natural gas by 7.4 per cent and liquefied petroleum gas by 11.2 per cent, while demand for bunker oil will drop by 17.6 per cent.
The ministry predicts that the crude-oil price this year will be US$105-$110 per barrel after averaging about $105 last year.
