Motorists to pay more into Oil Fund

The new energy minister will review if the contribution will be raised again," Viraphol Jirapraditkul, director-general of the Energy Policy and Planning Office, said yesterday.

The Energy Policy Council at its meeting saw room for the hike while crude oil prices are coming down.

Retailers now have to contribute Bt4 to the government's Oil Fund for every litre of 91-octane petrol sold, up from the present Bt3.60 per litre. The rate for premium petrol stays at Bt4 and for gasohol E20 at Bt0.30. Gasohol 95 is raised to Bt1.35 from Bt0.85 and gasohol 91 to Bt0.85 from Bt0.35.

The higher income will boost the Oil Fund's monthly revenue from Bt1.57 billion to Bt2.5 billion, Viraphol said.

Diesel B2, with 2-per-cent biodiesel content, is subject to a Bt1.20 rate, up from Bt0.70. The government will also reduce the subsidy for diesel B5, from Bt0.70 to Bt0.20.

E20's contribution was unchanged as its marketing margin is below 30 satang per litre. The price of ethanol has gone up from Bt18.01 per litre to Bt22.12 and looks to creep up even more next quarter, while biodiesel consumption has been picking up from 10 million litres per day early this year to 12 million.

The council also asked PTT Group's refineries to allow the distribution of cheap diesel to flood-hit provinces. Earlier, the refineries agreed to offer diesel at Bt3 per litre cheaper than the market, but only to industries suffering from the skyrocketing oil prices.

Diesel would be allocated free of charge to affected provinces at 100,000 litres per province, with Phitsanulok, Phichit, Saraburi, Lop Buri and Nakhon Ratchasima included on the initial list.

The meeting also proposed to extend the cheap diesel scheme, which was set to expire at the end of November.

"Falling oil prices have reduced demand for cheap diesel from industry. We have allocated only 22 million litres a month, from the quota of 122 million," Viraphol said.