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FUEL
YUTHANA PRAIWAN
The shortage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will ease next week as the second shipment of 20,000 tonnes will arrive on Wednesday, according to Chitsanupong Rungrojngamchareon, president of the LPG Traders Association.
The local LPG supply has been running short on surging demand from vehicle owners since late this month.
But Mr Chitsanupong denied rumours among motorists that the shortage was caused by traders hoarding the fuel to make more profit when the government splits the market in July.
Under the plan, LPG sold to households for cooking would continue to be subsidised while the price of gas sold to the transport and industrial sectors would be floated. If the LPG price were fully floated, the retail price would be equivalent to 48 baht a litre, compared with 18.13 baht at present.
The government has fixed the LPG retail price at US$332 per tonne, far below the global market price at $950.
The high popularity of LPG among motorists and the industrial sector is the main cause of the supply shortage. The subsidy has made it much cheaper than other fuels.
Chaiwat Choorit, a PTT senior executive vice-president for the oil business unit, also denied yesterday the rumours that PTT was responsible for the shortage, saying that his company had distributed the supply in strict compliance with guidelines laid down by the Energy Business Department, which fixed even the volume alloted to each service station.
He also complained the traffic congestion at Si Racha deep-sea port had resulted in the delay of the delivery by one or two days for some shipments.
In any case, Mr Chitsanupong insisted that the household sector would not be affected since it is protected by the Petroleum Security Act, which gives it priority access to petroleum allocation.
But Mr Chitsanupong said the association would ask the Commerce Ministry to allow it to raise the transport cost of cooking gas for households. The ministry fixed the existing rate a few years ago based on a diesel price at 25 baht a litre. The actual price is now 42 baht.
If the transport cost for households is raised, the cooking gas price would rise by 30 satang a kilogramme or five baht per 15-kilogramme standard cylinder.
The Department of Energy Business reported that LPG consumption in the transport sector rose by 22.7% in June, while in the industrial sector by 17% to 58,580 tonnes.
Surong Bulakul, PTT Plc's senior executive vice-president for international trading, said the latest 20,000-tonne LPG shipment had been delayed to Wednesday from the previous schedule of this past weekend.
The delay was caused by the limited capacity of the Si Racha port, which can serve a maximum LPG load of 20,000 tonnes. Since the standard capacity of an LPG tanker is 40,000 tonnes, the shipment must be split and reloaded into a smaller vessel before coming to Thailand.
The new gas shipment costs $950 per tonne, up from $850 in April. PTT subsidised 300 million baht on the April shipment and expects to pay an equivalent for this shipment.
Thailand has turned into a net LPG importer since April
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