Energy Minister Attaphon requested cooperation from four agencies to relax the operating hours of oil trucks to increase transportation trips, assuring that oil supplies are sufficient for 100 days. He revealed that refiners and traders are cooperating and are awaiting the War Situation Management Center's decision on price stabilization.
At 10:00 a.m. on 17 March 2026 at Government House, Energy Minister Attaphon Rerkpiboon spoke before the Cabinet meeting about whether to continue price stabilization. He said the issue would be discussed at the War Situation Management Center (WSMC), including using the Oil Fund to subsidize prices. How long the price will be fixed and other details will be decided in the meeting. The Energy Ministry has already invited oil refiners and traders to discuss the issues. He emphasized that the domestic oil supply is sufficient for 100 days and that they are also sourcing oil from other regions, including the U.S. and Africa.
Attaphon explained that occasional shortages happen due to transportation issues. Since oil is a controlled product with safety requirements, trucks must have specific features. When people panic bought, sales doubled, causing delivery delays. Refiners are cooperating by running at full capacity and are asked to increase if possible. Traders have agreed to distribute oil 24 hours a day to service stations for seven days. Regarding transport restrictions on truck operating hours, the Energy Ministry has requested the Royal Thai Police, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Transport, and Bangkok Governor to relax time limits for oil trucks in certain areas to improve oil delivery from depots to stations.
When some oil traders complained about quota cuts to 50 percent, Attaphon said that the 50 percent figure likely refers to unusually high sales levels. He confirmed that traders' oil deliveries have not dropped below normal levels before the panic buying. After such events, deliveries may increase but not always to the level service stations want because of truck trip limitations.
"I confirm there is oil at the source. Refiners are trying to increase output to supply depots, but the issue is that trucks collecting from depots cannot keep up because of limited trips. For trucks traveling to provinces, distances remain the same while sales have increased 2-3 times, so deliveries cannot keep pace, causing some stations to run out of oil at times. We are working on this problem to increase the number of delivery trips."
When asked how long the Oil Fund can subsidize prices, Attaphon said the fund remains in deficit, still below 100 billion baht but not yet exceeding that amount. The situation will be discussed at the WSMC meeting to decide how to stabilize prices. He stressed that the Oil Fund mechanism can still be used to manage price stabilization effectively.