Total fuel consumption during the first 11 months of last year rose by 2% year-on-year, in line with slow economic growth estimated to range from 2.6-2.7% in 2024, says the Department of Energy Business.
From January to November, consumption of all types of fuel tallied 155 million litres a day.
Demand for gasoline and gasohol, a mix of gasoline and ethanol, increased slightly by 0.2% year-on-year to 31.5 million litres a day, attributed to changes in travel behaviour, said Sarawut Kaewtathip, director-general of the department.
More people replaced internal combustion engine-powered cars with electric vehicles (EV), leading to the growth of EV sales in the passenger car category by 5.39%.
Others opted to use mass transit systems, which saw the number of passengers grow by 12.1%.
Demand for diesel was still high, with a year-on-year increase of 2.4% to 66.6 million litres a day, driven by economic activities, notably the expansion of exports.
Diesel is used in the transport and industrial sectors.
The consumption of jet fuel continued to increase by 18.4% year-on-year to 15.7 million litres a day, thanks to the revival of the tourism sector, which posted 31.9 million foreign tourist arrivals, a year-on-year increase of 28.2%, during the 11-month period.
The government also launched measures late last year to stimulate domestic tourism, which led to an increase in the number of Thai travellers by 8.6%.
The consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rose by 3.4% year-on-year to 18.4 million kilogrammes per day, driven by higher demand in the petrochemical, household and transport sectors.
LPG is used as cooking gas by households and a fuel by taxis.
Demand for compressed natural gas (CNG) decreased by 16.7% year-on-year to 2.7 million kg per day as the number of registered CNG-powered vehicles decreased and more CNG filling stations tended to close, said Mr Sarawut.
The decreases emerged though PTT Plc, the country's sole CNG seller, put a cap on the gas prices from July 2024 to December this year.
According to the department, Thailand's import of crude and refined oil as well as LPG increased by 1.2% year-on-year to 1.03 million barrels per day while the export of refined oil rose by 4.4% to 186,067 barrels per day.
