(Repeats to wider audience with no change to text)
BANGKOK, July 13 (Reuters) - Net crude oil importer Thailand is in talks to buy 300,000 tonnes a month of cheap diesel from Russia, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said on Sunday, a move by his embattled government to appease angry farmers and truckers. Samak did not name the parties involved in the deal, but he said the first batch of fuel, which would be sold only to rural cooperatives at an 8 baht (25 U.S. cents) a litre discount to pump prices, could arrive in Bangkok in 60 days.
The discounted price is 18 percent cheaper than the current diesel price of 44.24 baht/litre.
"Only cooperatives are eligible for this diesel. Individual truckers or farmers who want to buy must form a cooperative to be eligible for it," Samak said in his weekly television address.
The 300,000 tonnes, a quarter of overall domestic consumption, would be imported through an annual and renewable contract with Russian firms, he said.
Facing a sustained protest on the streets of Bangkok and shaky public support, Samak's five-month-old government is trying to shore up its popularity with handouts to everyone from rice farmers to bus operators.
Thailand's state-run refineries agreed in May to sell diesel to Bangkok bus companies at a 3 baht a litre discount under a cheap fuel scheme for a six-month period. ($1=33.62 Baht) (Reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by Darren Schuettler)
Sunday, July 13, 2008
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