The board of the Oil Fund decided on Monday to raise the cap on the price of standard diesel by one baht, from 31.94 baht to 32.94 baht per litre, from Tuesday.
Wisak Wattanasap, director of the Office of the Fuel Fund, said the decision made in a weekly board meeting was based on the global oil price per barrel rising to US$149.49 on May 27 from $138 the previous week. This was due to many factors, including the sanctions on oil from Russia and China's gradual reopening of its border.
It was expected the price of oil would remain high next week, he said.
Therefore, the Oil Fund board, with a policy to gradually increase the price to minimise the effect, decided to increase the diesel price from 31.94 baht to 32.94 baht per litre, effective from May 31.
The Oil Fund is now about 80 billion baht in the red, Mr Wisak said.
There is no subsidy on premium diesel, which was 42.36 baht per litre at the pump in Bangkok on Monday.