PM Orders Oil Price Cut, Not Tied to Singapore Prices

Matichon•Politics•19d ago

Reader Briefing

Thai Prime Minister orders an immediate oil price reduction, prioritizing public cost of living over international market benchmarks.

•Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has instructed the Minister of Energy, Ekkanat Phromphan, to hold urgent meetings of the Energy Policy Administration Committee (EPAC) and the Oil Fuel Fund Committee (OFFC) this evening.
•The directive is to immediately reduce retail oil prices within Thailand without waiting for the Singapore market reference price.
•The decision prioritizes the public's cost of living and aims to reflect the decrease in global crude oil costs.
•The Prime Minister also touched upon reducing the cost of living through other measures like 'Thai Help Thai Plus' and maintaining prices of essential goods.

Overview

•Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul ordered Minister of Energy Ekkanat Phromphan to find ways to reduce retail oil prices.
•The retail prices should be reduced because the public is aware of falling global oil prices and it is appropriate to lower domestic prices to ease the cost of living.
•Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul stated that when global prices rose, the public was asked to accept an increase, and now that prices have fallen, they should be reduced immediately and significantly.
•Minister of Energy Ekkanat Phromphan was instructed to call urgent meetings of the Energy Policy Administration Committee (EPAC) and the Oil Fuel Fund Committee (OFFC) this evening.
•The meetings of EPAC and OFFC are to urgently consider measures to reduce retail oil prices to align with reduced costs and benefit the public quickly.
•Retail prices will be reduced without necessarily waiting for references from the Singapore market if crude oil costs have already decreased.
•Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul stated that the government's policy is to reduce oil prices as much as possible, considering the cost of living for the public and businesses.
•Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Supachai Juthasompong has been informed about measures to reduce the cost of living for the public.

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Source: Matichon (Original)

Key Quotes

Anutin Charnvirakul

"I just told the Minister of Energy, as the executive, that when global prices rose, we asked the public to accept an increase. Now that global oil prices have fallen, we don't need to ask the public for a price reduction. Just reduce it for them, immediately, and significantly, not gradually."

ผมก็แค่บอกกับ รมว.พลังงาน ในฐานะผู้บริหารว่าตอนราคาในตลาดโลกขึ้น เราก็ไปขอประชาชนขึ้น ตอนนี้ราคาน้ำมันในตลาดโลกลงแล้ว เราก็ไม่ต้องไปขอประชาชนในการลดราคาลง ก็ลงให้เขาไปเลย ลงทันที และลงให้เป็นเรื่องเป็นราว ไม่ใช่ค่อยๆ ปรับลง

Anutin Charnvirakul

"The government has a policy to reduce oil prices as much as possible."

รัฐบาลมีนโยบายที่จะลดค่าน้ำมันลงให้มากที่สุดเท่าที่เป็นไปได้

Key Entities

Person

Anutin Charnvirakul(นายอนุทิน ชาญวีรกูล)ℹ️

Prime Minister and Minister of Interior who ordered the reduction of oil prices.

Ekkanat Phromphan(นายเอกนัฏ พร้อมพันธุ์)ℹ️

Minister of Energy who received the order to reduce oil prices and convened urgent committee meetings.

Supachai Juthasompong(นางศุภจี สุธรรมพันธุ์)

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce informed about measures to reduce the cost of living.

Organization

Energy Policy Administration Committee(คณะกรรมการบริหารนโยบายพลังงาน)

Committee tasked with considering measures to reduce retail oil prices.

Oil Fuel Fund Committee(คณะกรรมการบริหารกองทุนน้ำมันเชื้อเพลิง)

Committee tasked with considering measures to reduce retail oil prices.