Filling stations under siege

The increase in fuel prices averaging Bt1.55 per litre coming into effect today sent many people scrambling to fill their tanks yesterday.

Long queues of motorists formed at petrol stations, prompting many to impose purchase limits and some to put up "sold out" signs, while provincial authorities were on alert to check for pre-emptive price hikes or hoarding.

In Songkhla many filling stations in Muang and Hat Yai districts put a limit of Bt2,000 per customer and would not fill 200-litre containers. Many hung "sold out" signs.

Songkhla Internal Trade Office chief Ratree Dabsok said she had checked on Muang district petrol stations and found no hoarding. She said most had the normal amount of 10,000 litres for a 10-day sales period, though many had run dry.

However, the border district of Sadao appeared unaffected as supplies were getting through from Malaysia, a local source said yesterday, urging checks on fuel quality as some stations there were mixing in cheaper smuggled petrol.

Runs were on in Yala, Surat Thani, Uttaradit, Nan, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Surin, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Phichit and Phitsanulok.

Phitsanulok saw farmers from other districts loading 200-litre tanks onto their pickup trucks to fill up at some 20 stations in Muang district, only to be turned down because there was not enough to go round. Farmer Sorn Deechaona from Kong Krailas district said that he had prepared four 200-litre tanks to buy diesel in Muang district to fuel his rice-field water pumps.

Phisanulok Internal Trade Office chief Ubolrat Ratchasaenmuang said officials had inspected filling stations and found no wrongdoing so far but would inspect stocks at midnight to prepare for today's repricing, a measure envisaged for all 18,787 stations nationwide to prevent hoarding.

The National Energy Policy Committee on Thursday announced a Bt1.55-per-litre price rise for all types of fuel except gasohol E85 effective from today. Energy Minister Wannarat Charn-nukul, the committee's chairman, said this was to stagger the full increase in pump prices, which would go up no more than Bt1.50 per litre in the subsequent round.

He had said it should take two months for pump prices to come in line with higher excise and that the Oil Fund would need to spend Bt3.5 billion to Bt4 billion on subsidies.