Govt caps diesel at B30/litre

The Energy Policy Administration Committee (Epac) has approved a cap on diesel prices of 30 baht per litre starting from next Monday until the end of the month to help reduce living costs for consumers, Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow said yesterday.

Speaking after chairing an Epac meeting yesterday, the minister said the meeting also approved the reduction of the Oil Fuel Fund’s contribution from diesel B7 from 1 baht to 0.1 baht per litre effective today which will see the price of diesel B7 go down by one baht per litre.

Moreover, Epac also approved the reduction of a biodiesel (B100) mix of diesel B7 (7%) and diesel B10 (10%) to B6 (6%), effective from next Monday until the end of the month which will also help to lower the price of diesel, which is to be temporarily capped at 30 baht per litre, in the longer term, Mr Supattanapong said.

Epac also instructed oil retailers to reduce base diesel marketing fees from 1.80 baht to 1.40 baht per litre, which will help maintain the price of diesel B6 at 28-28.29 baht per litre, Mr Supattanapong said.

“If the price of diesel still goes up, the Oil Fuel Fund will step in to cap the price at 30 baht per litre,” he said.

With the latest measure, only diesel B6 and diesel B20 will be available at filling stations, he said.

Currently, diesel B7 retails at 31.29 baht per litre while base diesel (10%) costs 28.29 baht per litre and the retail price of diesel B20 is at 28.04 baht per litre, Mr Supattanapong said.

As for measures to handle the LPG price, the Oil Fuel Fund has separated the LPG account from the oil account, he said, adding the LPG account is more than 17 billion baht in the red because it was used to cap LPG prices.