Lower domestic demand lifts Thailand August oil exports

Thailand's oil products exports rose on weaker domestic demand for transportation fuels during August. Exports increased despite lower crude processing rates across Thai refiners.

Thailand exported 197,676 b/d of oil products in August, up by 22.21pc from July. Diesel accounted for 49.5pc of total oil product exports in August and amounted to 97,927 b/d. This is up by 21.45pc from July and 127pc from August 2019. Gasoline exports in August rose to 23,690 b/d, a 23pc increase from July estimates and a 29pc increase from August 2019.

Lower domestic demand for road fuels could have bolstered oil product exports in August. Domestic consumption of gasoline and diesel were at 209,586 b/d and 396,975 b/d respectively, a drop of 3.8pc and 2.3pc from July estimates.

Fuel oil exports totalled 52,896 b/d in August, 27.3pc higher than July. Traders said that Thai refiners were producing approximately the same amount of low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) every month but allocated more cargoes to the domestic market between June-July, which resulted in lower exports. Thailand's PTTGC exported approximately 100,000t of LSFO in August, higher than 80,000-90,000t in July.

Persistent weak demand for jet fuel from the impact of Covid-19 raised jet fuel and kerosine exports in August to 15,696 b/d, up by about 24pc from July. Total passenger throughput at Thailand's airports in January-August was 33mn, 65.6pc less than a year earlier, according to Airports of Thailand.

Refinery utilisation by Thai refiners fell marginally by 1pc in August from July. Despite lower refinery operational rates, the decrease in domestic demand for land transport fuels exacerbated the increase in export volumes of oil products from Thailand in August.

Average crude processing rates in August slipped to 984,901 b/d, about 80pc of total refining capacity in Thailand. This also dipped from 81pc in July. Thailand produced 1.169mn bl of refined oil products in August, lower by 1pc from July.

By Jaslyn Ying