The oil company said targeted consumers were not switching to alternative fuels despite steep price discounts.

President Anusorn Sangnimnuan said present daily gasohol consumption was 3.8 million litres and that the level was not rising. The main reason is that targeted consumers are wealthy and ignoring gasohol, which is Bt2.80 to Bt3.30 a litre cheaper than petrol.

"It's extremely difficult to encourage them to switch to gasohol as long as petrol is available," Anusorn said.

A survey of service stations showed that motorists visit Bangchak or PTT stations if they are regular gasohol patrons, but those still using petrol visit foreign companies' stations, where more petrol is sold than gasohol, he said.

"They [foreign stations] are not serious about promoting gasohol, because there are still petrol users, and the marketing margins on gasohol and petrol are quite close. To sell more gasohol, they need to invest more," Anusorn said.

He said to boost gasohol sales, the government should ask for cooperation from foreign oil retailers, probably through higher marketing margins on gasohol.

The Energy Ministry has so far declined to scrap sales of octane-95 petrol out of fear that car-owners with vehicles older than 10 years will suffer.

Meanwhile, Anusorn said the Energy Ministry's plan to reduce sulphur in bunker oil to 0.7 per cent might be good for the environment but that it was quite impractical.

To comply with the rule, each refinery would need to spend Bt7 billion to Bt10 billion on sulphur-reducing equipment. On the other hand, if low-sulphur crude oil were imported, the price would be as high as US$60 to $70 (Bt2,076 to Bt2,422) per barrel, compared with the current price of $50 for normal crude.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation