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Thailand’s energy consumption in the first eight months rose 2.4 per cent, according to the Energy Policy and Planning |Office.

Of all energy sources, fuel oil accounted for 29 per cent of consumption, natural gas 36 per cent, alternative energy 20 per cent, and coal 13 per cent.

Domestic production dropped 1.1 per cent in the first eight month, resulting in energy imports increased 8.6 per cent.

Refined oil consumption rose 2.2 per cent on year, due mainly to the 13.3 per cent increase in petrol consumption and in line with falling oil prices, the office |said.

Diesel consumption rose 3.3 per cent while thanks to robust tourism industry jet fuel usage rose 9.1 per cent, it said.

LPG consumption dropped 7.7 per cent, averaging 573 tons per month. NGV consumption dropped by 1.3 per cent.

Electricity usage is expected to rise 3.4 per cent due to the drought.

The usage rose in all sectors but the agricultural sector, which suffered from the drought.

OIC ready to push micro-insurance

The Office of Insurance Commission will strongly promote micro-insurance over the remainder of the year in a bid to secure one million policies in 2015, said OIC secretary general Pravej Ongartsittigul.

In the first eight months, 624,204 policies had been sold through 7-Eleven convenience stores, post offices and |insurance agents, representing 62.42 per cent of the target, he said.

Of the microinsurance sold in the first eight months, 59,162 were life insurance policies and 469,200 non-life insurance policies.

Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Udon Thani recorded the highest sales.

Government asked to help over SSI UK

Top UK steelmakers have called on the government to increase help to the sector after SSI UK, the country’s second largest steelmaker, halted production last week, calling into question its future and |putting thousands of jobs at |risk.

The calls came as UK unions said that if SSI UK failed it could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds in redundancy and clean-up costs.

SSI UK is a subsidiary of Sahaviriya Steel Industries, the biggest steel producer in the country

“This is a critical time for the future of the [UK] steel industry. Government has [the] power to take immediate steps which can alleviate pressure in the short term,” said Gareth Stace, director of industry association UK |Steel.

Specifically, the steelmakers want the government to bring forward plans to compensate them for carbon permit costs and are also calling for lower business rates, which they say can be five to ten times higher than in the EU. – Reuters