Thailand enters the oil age
The first 3,500 barrels, or 145,000 litres, of oil from the Sirikit oilfield in Lan Krabue, Kamphaeng Phet, arrived at the Bang Chak refinery in Bangkok at 9.30pm. Nineteen tank carriages of the State Railway of Thailand had hauled the oil from Phitsanulok’s Bung Phra station. A second shipment repeated the same journey three days later.
Finally going online, the new oil refinery would reduce Thailand’s reliance on imports and save the country hundreds of millions of baht in foreign exchange each year.
At the official opening of the oilfield on January 12, the Queen said she was glad the country finally had its own oil. ‘It is a new hope, although not a big one, but it will increase,’ the Queen said.