Lawmaker Urges End to Singapore Oil Price Benchmark
Thai lawmaker Attavit Suvannaphakdi urged the government to stop using Singapore's oil price benchmark, arguing it inflates fuel costs beyond crude oil levels and warning of mounting oil fund deficits and legal violations in biofuel subsidi
On 24 September 2025 at Parliament, list MP Attavit Suvannaphakdi of the Thai Nation Building Party raised concerns about surging energy prices, noting that diesel in Thailand now stands at 41.44 baht per litre—the highest level in 18 years. He argued that the Energy Ministry's continued reliance on Singapore's benchmark price is harmful to the country, as that price now swings too widely and the mechanism has become distorted. He contrasted the current situation with 2022, when crude oil at Dubai was 112 dollars per barrel and Thai diesel cost 35 baht; today crude remains at the same level but diesel has jumped to 41.44 baht—a six-baht increase caused by Singapore's export-oriented pricing structure.
Attavit questioned why the Energy Ministry has not grasped that a tool that once worked no longer does so, particularly with Donald Trump set to remain U.S. president for another two years, creating further market volatility. He warned of four looming financial crises: the 200,000 million baht borrowing authority will expire in September 2026 while the crisis persists; cutting excise tax heavily would undermine budget revenue forecasts; the oil fund deficit now sits at negative 92,000 million baht and is heading toward 100,000 million baht; and the legal authority under the 2019 Oil Fund Act for using fund assets to offset fuel prices expires on 24 September 2025. He noted that section 55 of that act prohibits using oil fund money to subsidise biofuel blends, yet the latest Cabinet resolution seeks to continue such disbursements—which would breach the law.
Attavit stressed that he had long warned the Energy Minister of problems arising from high palm oil prices and that failure to act swiftly would push the government into legal violation of oil fund usage. He expressed deep concern that such energy policy mismanagement would cripple fiscal and overall economic policy, and lamented that no corrective measures or emergency decree had been issued to extend the oil fund's biofuel authority beyond the legal deadline.
