Environment and energy policymakers are likely to postpone the schedule for the mandatory upgrade from Euro 4 to Euro 5 standards by another year because many stakeholders are not ready, says the chief of the Energy Business Department.
Nantika Thangsuphanich, the department's director-general, said the National Environmental Board chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon is scheduled to meet on April 18.
The upgrade to Euro 5 is scheduled for discussion at the upcoming meeting, as well as a new standard for marine oil under the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Many related state agencies plan to discuss those issues and set a schedule for mandatory compliance, Ms Nantika said.
The current schedule from the board is set to start from January 2023, but the new schedule is likely delayed by another year.
Ms Nantika said the discussion will consider the higher refining cost for the Euro 5 standard and new measures to attract further investment from six oil refineries because the previous estimation of the board was done in 2015 when global oil prices declined sharply.
The previous estimate was 35 billion baht for the investment upgrade of the country's oil refineries.
For the IMO's new standard, the board will discuss preparation before the new marine oil standard takes effect in January 2020, which will decrease sulphur to less than 0.5% from 3.5% now.
Meanwhile, the IMO plans to reset the real mandatory day in May, eight months earlier than scheduled, Ms Nantika said.
Policymakers are trying to deal with the smog crisis blanketing parts of Thailand.
Separately, the department projects that the country's daily consumption of both diesel and petrol could reach an all-time high this month, thanks to better growth of the local economy.
Ms Nantika said diesel consumption in April has risen by 4% to a new high averaging 68 million litres a day. Normal diesel consumption is 65 million litres a day.
Daily petrol consumption has increased from 30 million litres last April to 32 million.
Ms Nantika said the uptick in diesel has been driven by the seasonal harvesting of rice, sugar cane, cassava, palm oil and rubber.
The rise in petrol consumption has come from the tourism high season during March to April, with its many long holidays.
"The department has observed high fuel consumption per day since the end of March or after the general election," Ms Nantika said. "The growth was in line with Thailand's overall economic outlook, projected to grow by 3% in 2019."
The April surge has led the country's oil refineries to utilise capacity of up to 1 million barrels a day. Total capacity of the six refineries is 1.1 million barrels a day.