Fuel consumption in the first quarter of this year dropped 2.6 % to 156.7 million litres per day (MLD) due to the retirement period of capped price policy, according to the Department of Energy Business (DOEB).
DOEB director general Sarawut Kaewtathip said on Friday that the volume on average per day of jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rose in the second quarter, while diesel, gasoline, gasohol, compressed natural gas (CNG) and fuel oil dropped.
The high tourism season during the three-month period and the free visa scheme made jet fuel the highest growth at 19.1% to 16.7 MLD from 14.03 MLD.
The extension of the capped price of LPG at 423 baht per 15-kilogramme standard cylinder and the rising production of the petrochemical sector so LPG demand increased by 0.4% to 17.1 million kilogramme per day from 17 million kilogramme.
Gasoline and gasohol dropped 0.2 % to 31.7 MLD from a year earlier at 31.8 MLD due to the retirement cutting the excise tax from February at a range per litre between 0.8 and 2.5 baht per litre.
Demand for diesel dropped 6.9% to 71.1 MLD from 76.4 MLD in the same period of last year due to the retirement of excise tax cut to maintain diesel retail in Bangkok to be less than 30 baht per litre during September last year to the end of March, making diesel rose to 30.44 baht per litre in Bangkok and surrounding areas.
Compressed natural gas dropped 16.5% to 2,970 tonnes per day from 3,520 tonnes per day thanks to the increase retail price by 1 baht per kilogramme by a sole CNG seller, PTT, national energy conglomerate, to 19.59 baht per kilogramme from 18.59 baht per kilogramme.
Fuel oil dropped by 23.9% to 5.2 MLD from 6.8 MLD year on year thanks to the shifting fuels to cleaner mode fuels by the business sector.
Mr Sarawut said volume of imported fuels, crude oil, LPG and refined oil, dropped by 2.7% to 1.06 million barrels per day (BPD) from 1.1 million BPD a year earlier while import value rose 0.7% to 99.3 billion baht from 98.6 billion baht from the same period last year.
Export refined oil volume rose 6.2% to 156,545 BPD from 147,371 BPD, while the value rose 9.1% to 16.1 billion baht from 14.8 billion baht.