Where did 17 million liters of oil go? That's enough to fill 420,000 cars. If all these cars filled with this oil were lined up, they would stretch across countries. Although the government said this volume was due to citizens stockpiling, this information reflects a failure to manage the crisis that Thai people will face long-term.
Oil prices suddenly rose 6–8 baht per liter starting 26 Mar 2026, causing hardship for most people and raising questions about the government's oil price management. Previously, the government explained that after the war crisis, oil consumption increased, leading to questions about where 17 million liters of oil disappeared to, which the government attributed to stockpiling by the public.
The Thairath Online news team calculated that the missing 17 million liters per day could fill a total of 425,000 cars, assuming each car's fuel tank holds 40 liters.
If all 425,000 cars were lined up, the length would extend from Victory Monument to Prachuap Khiri Khan, then Surat Thani, Songkhla, Malaysia, and finally to Singapore.
This amount of oil could fuel a line of cars stretching from Bangkok almost to the tip of the Malay Peninsula, reaching Singapore—a distance of 1,912 km, nearly twice the length of Thailand from north to south.