New Thai Energy Minister Kills Biodiesel Plans

[Jai Dee]

New Thai Energy Minister Kills Biodiesel Plans

BANGKOK - New Thai Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand has killed the grand plans of his predecessors, from vast tracts of oil palms to make biodiesel to building hydropower dams in military-ruled Myanmar.

Piyasvasti, an energy expert who quit the Energy Ministry in 2003 over a policy row with the government of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said he would instead boost the use of renewable fuel in power production.

"I agree with the idea of mixing used cooking palm oil with diesel, which would be good for consumers' health," Piyasvasti, 53, told Reuters in an interview this week.

"But it would be too risky to find huge amounts of land to grow just palm and nothing else," he said.

As global oil prices stabilised somewhat, a litre of pure palm oil would cost more than a litre of diesel and it would make no economic sense for the government to subsidise the project, started two years ago and ignored by farmers, he said.

Piyasvasti, head of the Thai government's energy policy unit before 2003, is part of a cabinet installed after a military coup ousted the Thaksin government last month.

Under a plan unveiled a year ago, the Thaksin government aimed for net crude importer Thailand to produce 300,000 litres of palm-based biodiesel a day by 2007, which meant an additional 640,000-800,000 hectares (1.58-1.98 million acres) of oil palms.

But it never got off the ground and the Agriculture Ministry estimates 2006 palm output will be 5.7 million tonnes of fruit, little changed from last year.

The sharp change in direction puts Thailand at odds with other major Southeast Asian palm producers Indonesia and Malaysia. In July the two said they would set aside 40 percent of their palm oil production for biodiesel.

MEGA PROJECTS SCRAPPED

Piyasvasti said he was not even going to think about Thaksin's pact with Myanmar to build a 1,200 megawatt hydropower network of five dams along Myanmar's Salween River. The plan is opposed by environmentalists and Myanmar's ethnic groups.

"The Salween dam is still far away. We don't need to think about it for now," Piyasvasti said.

Analysts said the post-coup interim government of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont seemed intent on keeping a greater distance from Myanmar's military rulers than Thaksin, who was often generous to the junta.

Piyasvasti, a London-educated economist and mathematician, said he would also not revive Thaksin's plan to compete with Singapore as "Asia's regional energy hub" by working on tax incentives to lure foreign oil traders to Thailand.

"Thailand will have to admit it can't be Singapore, which is a true regional energy hub because it uses very little of its 1 million barrels per day refinery production domestically and sells the rest," he said.

Thaksin's plan to make southern Thailand an alternative oil shipping route to the busy Strait of Malacca and a regional oil stockpile site was not economically viable, Piyasvasti said.

"If we want to have a reliable supply of oil, it will be easier to secure it in the future markets", than building large tank farms along the coast, he said.

"If there was an oil spill around there, it would certainly reach Phuket or Krabi in two days," he said in reference to two beach resort areas.

Source: Reuters - 20 October 2006

[Gary A]

I'm sorry to see that short sighted thinking. Bio diesel from palm oil is one of the better approaches. Production is little increased from last year ?????? I suppose it was little increased. The trees don't grow overnight. Oil palms grow on very marginal land that isn't being used for anything else anyways. When crude oil, and it WILL , goes out of sight again where will he be? Too bad!

[VanZam]

I dissagree, I think the energy minister is being very realistic and level headed. 800,000 hectares of oil palm used to produce a fuel that will cost more per barrel than anything else on the market was a stupid plan from the start.

Bio fuels are a great idea, but like it or not, they are still not yet commerically viable for Thailand.

[Chang_paarp]

MEGA PROJECTS SCRAPPED

Piyasvasti said he was not even going to think about Thaksin's pact with Myanmar to build a 1,200 megawatt hydropower network of five dams along Myanmar's Salween River. The plan is opposed by environmentalists and Myanmar's ethnic groups.

This will win lots of pixie points with "the west" and their vocal chattering (lobbying) class. Combine it with the decision to distance themselves from Burma they will find some sympathy in some places that have decried the coup.

[PeaceBlondie]

At last, we have a government in place which doesn't need to worry about Thaksin's face. They can rub the plans of Thaksin and his cabinets in the dust and nobody important loses face.

Some of the plans were stooopid.

[sting01]

I dissagree, I think the energy minister is being very realistic and level headed. 800,000 hectares of oil palm used to produce a fuel that will cost more per barrel than anything else on the market was a stupid plan from the start.

Bio fuels are a great idea, but like it or not, they are still not yet commerically viable for Thailand.

Yet , you right, yet it's not profitable.

But what is the job of a government? Plannification, long sight, try to guess what will happend in 10 years, 25 years, 50 years ... THe use of statistics can help too.

So yes, actually it's not profitable, let say any liter of bio fuel that is sold is $ in less for the Oil copmpanies, and we do know all how powerfull they are. But saying it's good to scrap an alternative because right now this alternative is not profitable is a short sight idea, comparable to the denial of the global warning ... What will happend in 10 years, 25 years or 50 years???????????

[nostrel]

ok thats fine but what plans for alternative energy sources do they have ?

wind ,solar, hydrogen, ????

[lukamar]

ok thats fine but what plans for alternative energy sources do they have ?

wind ,solar, hydrogen, ????

Probably none of the above.

The big line in the article is this, "Piyasvasti, an energy expert who quit the Energy Ministry in 2003 over a policy row with the government of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,".

Rational thinking or vendetta? It appears sometimes that the new government is more worried about making the previous government look bad than having a long range plan.

Bio-diesel is a good alternative to help out the Thai oil problems sometime down the road. Who is that guy that keeps preaching self sufficiency for Thailand? It's sure not Piyasvasti.

[Tornado]

As global oil prices stabilised somewhat, a litre of pure palm oil would cost more than a litre of diesel and it would make no economic sense for the government to subsidise the project, started two years ago and ignored by farmers, he said

If he think's it was ignored by the farmers in the south, he would be wrong. You only have to drive through Phang Nga, Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat and you will see thousands of rai of newly planted palms. Just in my wifes village, nearly all of the farmers have abandoned prawn farming to take up palm farming.... It seems it was an initiative set up by the government and higher.....

As the palms (Im told) take three years to produce oil many of these farms are in early stages.

Will the government still buy the oil or will there be anyone to sell it to?

I planted 15 Rai myself last year and the brother in law has been through hel_l with rats eating them and the major flood early this year.

I hope there is still a market.

[VanZam]

I dissagree, I think the energy minister is being very realistic and level headed. 800,000 hectares of oil palm used to produce a fuel that will cost more per barrel than anything else on the market was a stupid plan from the start.

Bio fuels are a great idea, but like it or not, they are still not yet commerically viable for Thailand.

Yet , you right, yet it's not profitable.

But what is the job of a government? Plannification, long sight, try to guess what will happend in 10 years, 25 years, 50 years ... THe use of statistics can help too.

So yes, actually it's not profitable, let say any liter of bio fuel that is sold is $ in less for the Oil copmpanies, and we do know all how powerfull they are. But saying it's good to scrap an alternative because right now this alternative is not profitable is a short sight idea, comparable to the denial of the global warning ... What will happend in 10 years, 25 years or 50 years???????????

I do not deny that bio fuels are a positive move, however like it or not, money controls countries, regardless of any idealism we may have.

I do think that in the future bio fuels will have their place in Thailand, however, not to the extent of which the former PM dreamed. The only real way to find sustainable energy is to cut usage to a degree where alternatives are viable.

[lukamar]

however like it or not, money controls countries, regardless of any idealism we may have.

And in parts of SE Asia, guns and arbitrary rulings appear to control the countries, the idealism and the money at the moment.

[sting01]

I dissagree, I think the energy minister is being very realistic and level headed. 800,000 hectares of oil palm used to produce a fuel that will cost more per barrel than anything else on the market was a stupid plan from the start.

Bio fuels are a great idea, but like it or not, they are still not yet commerically viable for Thailand.

Yet , you right, yet it's not profitable.

But what is the job of a government? Plannification, long sight, try to guess what will happend in 10 years, 25 years, 50 years ... THe use of statistics can help too.

So yes, actually it's not profitable, let say any liter of bio fuel that is sold is $ in less for the Oil copmpanies, and we do know all how powerfull they are. But saying it's good to scrap an alternative because right now this alternative is not profitable is a short sight idea, comparable to the denial of the global warning ... What will happend in 10 years, 25 years or 50 years???????????

I do not deny that bio fuels are a positive move, however like it or not, money controls countries, regardless of any idealism we may have.

I do think that in the future bio fuels will have their place in Thailand, however, not to the extent of which the former PM dreamed. The only real way to find sustainable energy is to cut usage to a degree where alternatives are viable.

I do not deny you did not deny .... lol

In fact what I wassaying : what is planned then? I am affraid nothing. The problems in that are :

1) there is no real economical approach that say the oil palm is not a viable energy (the market price today is just a screenshot, by economical I mean an economical projection for the next 10, 25, 50 years).

2) What will be the capacity of thailand (or any other country) in 50 years to fullfill the need of the people living in thailand with regards to the needs of energy similar to oil?

3) Similar to the " La Hague power plant " that was supposed to use the sea power to create electricity, maybe oil palm is a dead end. But I still do not see any propostion for replace it (after La hague , it was decided to go in 2 ways : electric cars and bio fuel from colza)

4) Mostly a governement (any and anywhere) will never be able to make 100 % of the population happy. I wonder if palm was choosed not for the qualities of its oil, but simply because the palm culture is traditionally made in some sectors that needed to be 'evangelised' ot turned to the right political thoughts (mean we will use palm because we need your vote ...). Same reflection for the denial of the use of palm oil (sanction against ...).

I precise the point 4 is NOT and affirmation, I do not have any insight on the subject. I also precise I am not trying to suggest something. I just ask , as people in my own country would have ask about that kind of subject.

[womble]

"Piyasvasti, an energy expert who quit the Energy Ministry in 2003 over a policy row with the government of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,"

But it's nice to have an energy expert as energy minister. Perhaps he fell out with Thaksin because his expert advice was ignored?

Except for Somkid it seemed everyone else in Thaksins cabinet had no business being there. They were there as a reward for loyalty, not on merit.

At least this time we have qualified people in their respective portfolios.

[Gary A]

What does a liter of cooking oil sell for? Even the palm oil made for cooking is only slightly more expensive than diesel right now. I view this as a vendetta against Thaksin. The growing of the trees and the jobs it creates are certainly better than giving the money to OPEC. If the government would continue to support the effort, the oil would become competitively priced as well as creating new manufacturing jobs in addition to more farm jobs. Politics as usual?

[lukamar]

Perhaps he fell out with Thaksin because his expert advice was ignored?

Perhaps his expert advice did not fit with the previous government's plans and he believed his was the only option.. I'm still betting on vendetta, rather than short sightedness...

Both Malaysia and Indonesia are expanding palm oil production as the world market keeps expanding. Once again, it's the small scale farmer that has invested in Palm Oil plantings that will take the biggest hit.

[naka]

Under a plan unveiled a year ago, the Thaksin government aimed for net crude importer Thailand to produce 300,000 litres of palm-based biodiesel a day by 2007, which meant an additional 640,000-800,000 hectares (1.58-1.98 million acres) of oil palms.

These numbers are obviously nonsense.

300,000 liters is 300 tonne per day (approx) or 109,500 tonnes per year.

This would require about 0.5 million tonnes of fruit per annum.

This would equate to about 30,000 hectares, not 640,000 to 800,000.

Palm Oil fruit (FFB) normally provides 20 to 24 percent oil.

Yield is normally around 20 tonnes/fruit per hectare.

Malaysian Palm Oil Statistics

Naka.

Edited October 21, 2006 by naka

[lukamar]

These numbers are obviously nonsense.

300,000 liters is 300 tonne per day (approx) or 109,500 tonnes per year.

This would require about 0.5 million tonnes of fruit per annum.

This would equate to about 30,000 hectares, not 640,000 to 800,000.

Can't argue with your figures but the Government target was to mandate B5 by 2011 which will require 4 Million liters/day of bio-diesel. That's about 13-14 times as much as your calculations and works out to around 600,000 hectaceres. Seems the governments long term Ha figure would match yours if extrapolated out to 4m liters/day.

Also it may be worth noting that Thailand's plan was not just to use Palm Seed Oil but also Coconuts, Jatropha Curcas Linn, and Tallow, some of which have much less oil yield than Palm Seeds.

[naka]

These numbers are obviously nonsense.

300,000 liters is 300 tonne per day (approx) or 109,500 tonnes per year.

This would require about 0.5 million tonnes of fruit per annum.

This would equate to about 30,000 hectares, not 640,000 to 800,000.

Can't argue with your figures but the Government target was to mandate B5 by 2011 which will require 4 Million liters/day of bio-diesel. That's about 13-14 times as much as your calculations and works out to around 600,000 hectaceres. Seems the governments long term Ha figure would match yours if extrapolated out to 4m liters/day.

Also it may be worth noting that Thailand's plan was not just to use Palm Seed Oil but also Coconuts, Jatropha Curcas Linn, and Tallow, some of which have much less oil yield than Palm Seeds.

Yes, lukamar, I hear what you say ... Typical Polly doubletalk.

Naka.

Edited October 22, 2006 by naka

[chownah]

We are in a period of political re-alignment. The plans of the previous gov't were resonant with thier people reaping the rewards of every project. Now with a new alignment the gov't must first stop the plans that enrich the members of the previous gov't and then draft new plans which channels money to their own people....this takes time so expect about 6 months or one year for new plans to promote palm oil to appear. This is long enough so that the old plans can be forgotten so that people will mostly not be able to see that the new plans are just the same as the old one only with different beneficiaries.

Of course this is all just conjecture on my part....just like 99% of what is posted here is just someone's conjecture.

Chownah

[kmart]

Sounds like the environmental benefits of biofuel are grossly overrated, if not outright wrong anyway.

bio-phooey