The full reopening of the country from July drove fuel consumption, which grew by 14% year-on-year over the first 11 months of 2022, says the Department of Energy Business.
From January to November, consumption of fuels, covering diesel, gasoline and gasohol, jet fuel, fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene and compressed natural gas, stood at 150 million litres per day (MLD).
Jet fuel consumption saw the highest growth of 90% to 8.7 MLD, up from 4.7 MLD in the same period last year, said department chief Nanthika Thangsupanich.
She attributed the big increase to the easing of restrictions on air travel, previously imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Demand for other fuels also increased. Use of gasoline and gasohol, a mix of gasoline and ethanol, rose by 4.6% to 29.9 MLD, up from 28.6 MLD in the same period last year.
Diesel consumption also rose by 17.4% year-on-year to 72.2 MLD, up from 61.8 MLD, thanks to a price subsidy under the Oil Fuel Fund and an excise tax cut, which remains in place until Jan 20 next year, said Ms Nanthika.
Consumption of LPG, which is used as cooking gas, grew by 7.1% year-on-year to 32.7 MLD, up from 30.6 MLD.
Demand for compressed natural gas grew by 9.3% year-on-year to 3,390 tonnes per day, up from 3,110 tonnes per day while consumption of fuel oil rose by 17.6% year-on-year to 6.4 MLD.
Only kerosene shrunk by 12.9% to 0.1 MLD, down from 0.2 MLD, as people continued to shift to cheaper fuels and the industrial sector reduced its usage as a raw material.
Consumption of diesel, gasohol, LPG and compressed natural gas exceeded their daily average levels in 2019 before the pandemic, said Ms Nanthika.
According to the department, the import of crude oil, LPG and refined oil during the first 11 months also rose by 12.9% to 991 kilo-barrels per day (KBD), up from 878 KBD in the same period last year.
Refined oil exports declined by 22.7% to 158 KBD, down from 205 KBD in the same period in 2021.