Fuel consumption in Thailand increased by 2.8% year-on-year in January in line with economic growth, driven by tourism and government stimulus measures, says Sarawut Kaewtathip, director-general of the Department of Energy Business.
Total consumption of key fuels used by transport, businesses and households was 158 million litres a day.
Demand for jet fuel soared 21% in January to 19.8 million litres a day on average, thanks to an increase in both foreign and Thai travellers. Thailand welcomed 3.7 million foreign tourist arrivals in January, a 22.2% increase year-on-year.
Diesel consumption rose by 0.4% to an average of 68.1 million litres a day, driven by the stimulus measures and export growth.
The government's policy to cap the retail price of diesel at 33 baht a litre also played an important role in keeping demand for diesel high, said Mr Sarawut.
Consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) increased by 2.9% to 16.6 million kilogrammes a day. Households use LPG as cooking gas while industries such as petrochemicals use LPG in manufacturing processes.
In January, government stimulus measures including the 10,000-baht cash handout for the elderly and the Easy E-Receipt tax rebate programme caused manufacturers to produce more goods, according to the Office of Industrial Economics.
Consumption declined for gasoline and gasohol, a mix of gasoline and ethanol, by 3% to 31.2 million litres a day in January, said Mr Sarawut.
Despite robust tourism, demand for fuels in this category was affected by greater use of battery-powered cars among motorists. Sales of electric passenger cars increased by 5.3% year-on-year for the month, he said.
In addition, more people used mass transit systems in January, rising by 12.1% year-on-year, said Mr Sarawut.
Demand for gasoline, gasohol 91, gasohol E20 and gasohol E85 fell to 0.3, 6.6, 5 and 0.06 million litres a day, respectively, but gasohol 95 consumption increased to 18.7 million litres a day.
Gasohol 91 and 95 are blended with 10% ethanol, with the numbers 91 and 95 indicating their octane ratings. Gasohol E20 is blended with 20% ethanol, while gasohol E85 is composed of 85% ethanol.
"Motorists prefer using gasohol 95 to other fuels because of driving efficiency and prices," he said.
The price of gasohol 95 was 0.37 baht a litre higher than gasohol 91 in January, a narrower gap than the 1.76 baht a litre spread during the same month in 2024.
Consumption of compressed natural gas (CNG) continued to fall, declining 15.3% to 2.4 million kg a day, in line with the dip in the number of registered CNG-fuelled vehicles and filling stations.
PTT Plc, the country's sole CNG seller, also raised CNG prices, leading to lower demand.
In January, Thailand's imports of crude oil, LPG and refined oil rose by 7.6% to 1.12 million barrels a day, worth 94.5 billion baht a month, while refined oil exports dropped by 0.8% to 146,143 barrels per day, valued at 13.8 billion baht a month.
