Thailand: LPG price on hold despite global drop

Thailand: LPG price on hold despite global drop

The domestic retail price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will remain
unchanged in April, the Energy Policy and Planning Office (Eppo) has
confirmed, despite cheaper global LPG prices.

Director-general Twarath Sutabutr said global LPG prices dropped by US$80 to
$460 a tonne in March, while the stronger Thai baht made imported gas
cheaper, bringing the retail price of the gas to 17.60 baht per kilogramme,
down from 20.60 baht per kilogramme.

He said keeping the retail price unchanged allows the government to cut
levies collected by the state Oil Fund.

"The state Oil Fund subsidised retail gas prices when global oil prices
surged," Mr Twarath said. "Eppo has agreed to keep retail prices unchanged
and cut the state Oil Fund's subsidy rate from 6.30 baht per kg to 3.70 baht
per kg."

As a result, the domestic retail price of the gas will remain 20.96 baht per
kg for the month of April, he said.

The subsidy reduction will cut the fund's expenses, down by 322 million baht
from the current spending of 444 million baht.

As of April 2, the fund stood at 40.2 billion baht, he said.

Mr Twarath said the recent tropical storm, which reduced temperatures, has
helped cut power demand in March, resulting in real power demand to be lower
than expected.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) previously forecast
power demand in March would reach 603 gigawatt hours (GWh).

Heavy rains brought temperatures down to 33-34C, cutting real power demand
to 552.2GWh, and peak power demand to 26,220 megawatts from the previous
forecast of 28,250MW.

Eppo also acknowledged that gas supply was interrupted during the
maintenance work of the Yadana gas block in Myanmar, but it was completed
faster than expected.

The maintenance of the Yadana gas block was scheduled for March 25- April 2,
but the work was finished a day earlier, enabling gas supply from the block
to return to normal levels quicker than scheduled.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1227268/lpg-price-on-hold-despite-gl
obal-drop

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com