Thailand
Thailand: Diesel price set to fall this month
The domestic diesel price should decrease by 0.5 baht a litre to around 32 baht on May 15 in response to falling global oil prices, says the Oil Fuel Fund Office (Offo).
This marks the sixth in a series of reductions of diesel prices since early February, when the retail price in Thailand was 34.94 baht a litre, according to Wisak Watanasap, director of the Offo.
The government spent a huge amount of money from the Oil Fuel Fund to subsidise domestic diesel prices last year, following a surge in global oil prices driven by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.
As global oil prices cooled this year, authorities ended subsidies for the retail prices of diesel.
Diesel under Platts reference prices decreased from UScopy33 per barrel on average in January to $97.1 per barrel in April.
The price has continued to decrease to $86.4 per barrel, said Mr Wisak.
The downward trend of diesel prices has allowed the debt-ridden fund to recover.
The fund was 130 billion baht in the red in January as a result of the diesel price subsidy programme.
The losses gradually decreased to 109 billion baht at the end of March, then 79 billion as of May 8, he said.
Part of the losses, worth 46 billion baht, were incurred by a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) price subsidy programme.
The Offo has collected a levy from diesel buyers, along with loan requests, to relieve the financial burden of the fund.
Despite the levy collection, domestic diesel prices remain low because the five-baht diesel excise tax collection has been waived.
The waiver was scheduled to end on May 20, but the cabinet extended the period until July 20.
The Offo was earlier granted loans worth 50 billion baht to pay money it owed to oil traders.
According to Mr Wisak, the Offo board is expected to approve another request for a loan of 20 billion baht to deal with the debt.
The cabinet set a maximum of 150 billion baht for loans for the energy price subsidy programme.
According to the Offo, energy policymakers are expected to consider whether to maintain the LPG price at 423 baht per 15-kilogramme cylinder, scheduled to last until the end of June.
The LPG market price is currently 466 baht per cylinder.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2567016/diesel-price-set-to-fall-this-month