Change in the demand for petroleum products in Thailand

Abstract

Thailand has long been dependent on OPEC's erode oil and on imported petroleum products from ASEAN countries. Following the 1973 oil price increase, Thailand's efforts to develop indigenous petroleum resources resulted in the production of natural gas in the Gulf of Thailand and oil from the onshore Sirikit oil field, both of which have reduced Thailand's dependence on imported petroleum products. Since the early 1970s, the demand for individual petroleum products in Thailand has changed dramatically as a result of the retail pricing structure and the wider price incentive between gasoline-LPG and gasoline-diesel. Over the next ten years, as Thailand and other Asian countries accelerate their efforts to develop indigenous resources as substitutes for imported petroleum products, the effects of changes in the downstream market are likely to subside in this part of the world.