BANGKOK, 28 April 2011 – The PTT Plc has admitted that the Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV) refuelling at its stations across the kingdom is slow due to a sharply increasing demand at present while the number of gas stations remains inadequate.
PTT Senior Executive Vice President for Corporate Strategy Nattachat Charuchinda said the higher NGV consumption stems from the global oil price hike; therefore, NGV, which is cheaper, becomes more popular among motorists while dozens more of large and small vehicles fitted with NGV tanks have been manufactured.
Mr Nattachat reported that the number of vehicles using NGV currently rose to 300 units a day while last year’s figure stood only at 240-250 units per day on average. Moreover, NGV consumption increased to 6,400 tons from 5,900 tons per day in late 2010, which was higher than the estimate.
The vice president pointed out that the number of NGV stations nationwide is not enough to meet with the demand although 500 new gas stations are being established this year. There are 438 NGV stations in total while about 250,000 cars are using NGV.
Mr Nattachat also admitted that the PTT is facing a loss from selling NGV as its real cost stands at 14.50 baht a kilogram, while the market price is at 8.50 baht per kilogram for the time being. The oil fund is subsidizing the NGV price at the rate of 2 baht per kilogram only, leaving the company to face an estimated loss of no less than 7 billion baht this year.
