How to make best use of savings from cheap oil
Play
World oil prices have been steadily dropping, and the outlook is for them to stay low at least over the next year.
These price declines should be used to accelerate our much-needed shift to rail from road, which will sustainably halve transport costs to Bt0.95/tonne-km from Bt2.12. These gains will lower overall retail prices and, coupled with the doubling of cargo train speed to 60kph from 29 resulting from the planned dual-track rail system, will sustainably benefit the whole country.
Reducing retail oil and gas prices when world market prices slide will greatly slow the shift from road to rail because it will reduce the cost of road transport – while leaving us to pay the massive amount of Bt2 trillion for transport infrastructure projects.
Thus, I propose that the retail prices of oil and gas prices be left unchanged, and the savings be used to first replenish the Oil Fund (to cushion possible price rises), then to help pay for rail projects.
Burin Kantabutra
