Thailand to Completely Stop Importing LPG from Next Month

Thailand will stop importing LPG from next month for the first time in eight years as domestic supply becomes sufficient and demand tapers, according to country’s Energy Business Department.

"There is sufficient imported LPG left over in PTT's storage tank in Si Racha," Bangkok Post quoted Witoon Kulcharoenwirat, the department's director-general as saying.  

The southeast Asian nation turned into an importer in 2008 when the government started subsidising gas prices. The domestic price was set at $$333 a tonne although global LPG prices moved in a range of $450-520 a tonne, pushing the demand higher.

Imports of LPG rose to a record high of 180,000 tonne per month in 2013 before starting to slow down in recent years, Bangkok Post reported.

The drop in LPG consumption was largely because of falling demand in the petrochemical sector as most producers switched from using propane, an LPG by-product, as their feed stock to naphtha, a petroleum by-product that became much cheaper in line with collapsing oil prices.