Thailand's fuel consumption rose by 1.3% year-on-year to 158.6 million litres per day (MLD) in the first quarter, with diesel and gasohol usage falling, in line with economic circumstances in early 2025, says the Department of Energy Business.
The country encountered economic risks during the first three months of this year, ranging from Washington's new trade policy to the impact of the Mar 28 earthquake on Chinese tourists' decisions on whether to travel to Thailand.
The country's economic growth plays a key role in determining how much energy is used, said department director-general Sarawut Kaewtathip.
From January to March this year, diesel consumption decreased by 1.5% to 68.3 MLD despite the state policy to put a cap on the retail price of diesel at 31.94 baht a litre to ease the financial burden for motorists.
Demand for gasoline and gasohol, a mix of gasoline and ethanol, also decreased by 0.4% to 31.5 MLD.
Among factors behind the drop of gasoline and gasohol consumption was the continual growth of the electric vehicle (EV) market. Thai people used more battery EVs, hybrid EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs, which accounted for 5.9% of total vehicles in the passenger car category in the first quarter.
More people, especially those in Bangkok, also used the electric mass transit system, with the number of commuters rising by 5.9% from the first quarter of 2024.
The average consumption of compressed natural gas (CNG) went down by 15% to 2.5 million kilogrammes a day as the number of CNG-fuelled vehicles continued to decrease and more CNG station operators have tended to leave the business.
The popularity of CNG is declining even though national oil and gas conglomerate PTT Plc, the country's sole gas seller, has given discounts on gas prices for taxi and bus drivers.
The consumption of liquefied petroleum gas rose slightly by 0.3% to 17.14 million kg per day, attributed to usage in the petrochemical, household and transport sectors.
In the aviation industry, demand for jet fuel rose by 15.1% to 19.2 MLD, driven mainly by tourism.
During the first quarter of this year, Thailand's imports of crude oil, refined oil and LPG dropped by 0.1% to 1,064 kilobarrels per day, worth 85.8 billion baht per month.
Exports of refined oil fell by 3.7% to 150,794 barrels per day, worth 13.2 billion baht a month.