First quarter fuel consumption drops 7.7%
The consumption of fuel , including oil, petrol, diesel, aviation jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas for vehicles (NGV), dropped by an average of 7.7 per cent year on year during the first three months of 2021, the Department of Energy Business said on Wednesday.
“The significant drop came from the use of aviation jet fuel, which fell 73.9 per cent year on year to 4.6 million litres per day, followed by a 31.2 per cent drop in NGV usage to 3.3 million kilograms per day,” the department’s director-general Nantika Thangsupanich said.
“The drop in jet fuel consumption is due to the Covid-19 pandemic that forced the aviation industry to suspend services since last year, while the drop in NGV usage is mainly due to a decreasing number of NGV gas stations and vehicles that use NGV,” she pointed out.
Average gasoline usage in the first quarter was 700,000 litres per day, decreasing 9.7 per cent year on year, while average gasohol usage was 30.4 million litres per day, increasing 0.1 per cent year on year.
“The usage of both gasoline and gasohol in March increased to 33.9 million litres per day from 32.2 million in February and 27.3 million in January due to the easing of lockdown measures when the situation following the second Covid-19 wave started to improve,” she said.
Average diesel usage in the first quarter was 67.2 million litres per day, falling 0.6 per cent year on year, while average LPG usage was 16.4 million kilograms per day, increasing 2.5 per cent year on year.
“The petrochemical sector is the biggest user of LPG, at 6.8 million kg per day, increasing 12.5 per cent year on year, while the transportation sector saw the biggest drop in LPG usage to 1.9 million kg per day, decreasing 22.5 per cent year on year,” Nantika added.