Commercial LPG meeting on price rise soon

The Energy Ministry will meet with the Energy Policy Council soon to discuss the adjustment of the LPG price in the transportation and industrial sectors in line with the resolution of the National Energy Policy Committee.

Acting Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said yesterday that once the meeting decided on the price adjustment, the ministry would still have to wait for the new prime minister to implement the decision.

The government plans to increase the LPG price in the transportation and industrial sectors by Bt2 per kilogram a month until it reaches Bt24.13/litre. But Wannarat said he could not say when the new rate would take effect, pending the election of the new government. The nomination of a new prime minister is expected to be finished by early next week.

Wannarat added that the ministry could exercise the price adjustment and said he believed there would no change at the ministry.

He said that the country was waiting for the new Cabinet to set the minimum oil price level, which would be the guideline for collecting money for the Oil Fund.

In a related matter, the ministry will soon conclude the details of the 15-year alternative-energy development plan. The ministry put the draft plan to its last public hearing yesterday.

The plan is aimed at boosting the proportion of alternative-energy consumption in total consumption to 20.4 per cent in 2022 and to save Bt570 billion per year in the cost of oil imports during the 15 years covered by the plan. The current proportion is around 5.8 per cent, saving the country Bt94 billion per year.

The plan will help Thailand cut oil imports worth Bt320 billion per year - a calculation based on an oil price of US$55 (Bt1,958) per barrel - and reduce emissions of CO2 by 42 million tonnes by 2022.

This year Thailand has already spent Bt1.5 trillion on oil imports, up from Bt900 billion last year, due to the oil price hike during the first three quarters.