BANGKOK, Sept 16 (TNA) — The recent attacks on oil processing facilities in Saudi Arabia may cause retail oil prices to rise by 1 baht per liter, said energy expert Manoon Siriwan.
The crud oil prices on Monday morning rose by 10-15% or 7-10 US dollars per barrel in the wake of the attacks on two crude oil processing facilities of Saudi Arabia’s energy giant Aramco. The incident affected the production of 5.7 million barrels of oil and gas per day. The amount forms 50% of the total production in Saudi Arabia and 5% of global supplies.
Mr Manoon said that based on the rising cost alone, retail oil prices should increase by 2 baht per liter but he hoped that the government would subsidize the prices so that the increment would be 1 baht per liter and be divided into two price hikes of 0.50 baht per liter each.
He did not expect any significant impact on crude oil imports for local refineries, saying Thailand mainly imported medium light crude while the affected facilities in Saudi Arabia produced light crude.
Mr Manoon expected global crude prices to range between 60-80 US dollars per barrel. (TNA)