New increases to take effect on April 16
The Energy Policy Administrative Committee on Tuesday agreed on key policies which will take effect on April 16, in line with the Cabinet's Oct 4, 2011 fuel price restructuring resolution.
While the Oil Fund's levy on gasohol and diesel is maintained, the committee decided to raise the levy on octane-91 and octane-95 petrol products by another Bt1 per litre.
The committee said that this would further widen the gap of traditional petrol and gasohol products and hence boost gasohol consumption. Following the decision, the gap will be widen from Bt2.35 per litre to Bt3.42 for octane-91 petrol and gasohol 91 (which contains 10 per cent ethanol content). For octane-95 petrol and gasohol 95, the gap will be Bt7.37 per litre from Bt6.30.
The levy on diesel is maintained at Bt0.60 per litre, at the time when higher oil price is pushing up the cost of living. Thailand consumes about 50 million litres of diesel per day, against some 20 million litres for petrol products.
The decision will reduce the Oil Fund's negative financial stance - incurred largely by subsidies on gas, from Bt70 million a day to Bt60 million.
The committee also resolved to impose the Oil Fund's levy on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), for transportation use, during April 16-May 15, at the rate of Bt0.75 per kilo or Bt0.41 per litre. This will raise the retail price to Bt11.41 per litre.
Meanwhile, the Oil Fund will also remove the Bt0.50 per kilo subsidy on natural gas for vehicle (NGV), from April 16 onwards. This will raise NGV retail price to Bt10.50 per kilo.
