Thailand is gearing up to produce and distribute diesel that meets the Euro 5 environmental emission standard from Jan 1 next year, but the price remains unknown.
More eco-friendly diesel options, including B7 and B20, will be available at petrol stations on May 1, said the Department of Energy Business.
B7 and B20 are biodiesel, which is a mix of diesel and 7% and 20% palm oil-derived methyl ester, respectively.
Oil refineries said earlier Euro 5 diesel will incur an additional cost of 0.5 baht per litre. This prompted the Energy Policy and Planning Office to work on a new diesel price structure.
The government's price subsidy programme, which keeps the retail price of diesel at below 30 baht a litre, is due to expire at the end of December.
Oil refineries and traders told the Department of Energy Business they are ready to produce and sell Euro 5 diesel, said Nanthika Thangsupanich, director-general of the department.
Six oil refineries said they allocated a combined budget of 50 billion baht to upgrade diesel quality, from Euro 4 to Euro 5, over the past several years.
Ms Nanthika said petrol stations will be allowed to sell Euro 4 diesel, which is currently used by motorists, for 3-4 months before it is completely replaced by Euro 5 diesel.
During the first 10 months of this year, average consumption of diesel dropped by 5% to 68.5 million litres per day (MLD), down from 70 MLD in the same period last year as less was used for power generation, according to the department.
In 2022, more diesel was used to replace costly liquefied natural gas (LNG). The price of LNG became less expensive this year.
From January to October, Thailand's total fuel consumption rose by 1.3% year-on-year to 152.1 MLD, increasing in line with economic growth.
Demand for gasoline and gasohol increased by 3.9% to 31.5 MLD, up from 30.3 MLD year-on-year.
Jet fuel consumption posted the highest growth of 59.4% to 13.3 MLD, up from 8.4 MLD.
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumption rose by 10.8% to 33.2 MLD, while fuel oil demand fell by 13.8% to 5.4 MLD.
Demand for compressed natural gas was almost unchanged, down 0.8% to 3,360 tonnes per day, thanks to the state price subsidy scheme, applicable from June to the end of December.
Thailand's import of crude oil, LPG and refined oil rose by 2% to 1.034 million barrels per day (BPD), with the value falling by 18% to 94.5 billion baht.
Refined oil exports increased by 7.2% to 173,998 BPD, with the value decreasing by 12.3% to 18.3 billion baht as global oil prices declined.