Spouse and i had planned a trip to SE Asia for late October through November of last year.  We would fly into Bangkok, spend a few days with friends then a few more in Sukhothai, on to Chiang Mai, then 2 days by boat from Chiang Kong to Luang Prabang, flight to Siem Riep, car to central Thailand, return to Bangkok for a few more days and home.  That was the plan and since we would get there at the height of the recent flooding, Lucia suggested a post. 

We had planned to spend the first 4 days of trip in Bangkok but there was continuing uncertainty about flooding along Sukhumvit Road where our friends lived so we diverted to Sukothai and returned to Bangkok at end of trip. More on boating on Mekong and flood effects in subsequent posts.

I thought it might be interesting to share a couple of things that surprised us while we were over there, to wit, widespread use of compressed natural gas (CNG) for motor-fuel.  

We took a 12 passenger Toyota public van from Wang Nam Khiao to Bangkok, a distance of 250k. It was inexpensive although we had to buy an additional seat for our two carry-ons.

We stopped for refueling 15k outside of Bangkok. Driver asked us all to disembark, said it was Thai regulation during fueling. The hood was lifted and a fueling hose connected.

Fuel was compressed natural gas. The station sold CNG at 6 pumps and business was brisk. There were other vans like ours, taxicabs, and pick-up trucks. I talked to one of the pick-up drivers who said that CNG was so cheap, he had converted his Toyota pick-up to burn it. The gauge on the dispenser read 200 bar/3,000 psi.  

Our van also burned 91 Gasoline and had automatic fall-over to gasoline if it ran through its supply of CNG. Driver said this didn’t happen very often because there were enough CNG stations on the routes he drove.

It appears that all motor-fuel is subsidized in Thailand but especially CNG. In addition to CNG, LPG (Propane), diesel (Number2), two grades of straight gasoline plus 4 more of various proportions of gasoline-ethanol, and even straight ethanol are available – but not all at every station.

CNG is sold by the kilogram at 8.5 Baht/kg. Gasoline is sold by liter and was in low Baht 30s/L when we were there. Diesel was 28 Baht/L. Figuring Baht at $0.032 shows that CNG was $0.272/kg, and gasoline over $1.0/liter.

Using CNG to Gasoline Equivalent of 2.267kgCNG=1 Gallon of gasoline, price of CNG is equivalent to paying $0.61/gallon for gasoline. At $1.00/L, Thai gasoline costs $3.80/Gal – quite a difference. Read here for Gasoline gallon equivalent

CNG is produced by a government owned refinery and there are plans to raise the retail price by 70% over the coming year to 14 Baht/kg. Producer says that cost of production is 16 Baht/kg. CNG in Thailand could be sold profitably for a bit over $1.15 per gasoline gallon equivalent.

Read Here for a more detailed discussion of fuel types in Thailand.