Green fuel gets green light

AO MAKHAM: Viset Choopiban, President of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), this morning announced that the PTT will continue to offer fuel free of excise tax and VAT to the operators of Thai fishing boats. The project, called “Green Fuel for Fishermen in the Andaman Sea” because the tax-free diesel is dyed green, was launched as an experiment six months ago. Its aim was to stop Thai captains buying cheaper fuel sold in international waters or smuggled into Thai waters. Speaking at the PTT storage facility, K. Viset said, “The domestic demand for diesel has risen by 8% since this project began, so this green fuel has replaced smuggled fuel.” K. Viset said that the demand for the green fuel is now between four and five million liters a month and that this is expected to rise to 15-20 million liters a month in the near future.