Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: Thailand has learned from past experiences that global oil crisis can high affect the countrys economy. In order prevent undesirable outcome in the future, Thailand has established a supporting mechanism that enables the country to stabilize domestic oil prices during global oil price turmoil, which is, the purpose of the Oil Fund.

     Policies and measures: The Government of Thailand has been very successful at regulating prices of petroleum products by using money from the Oil Fund to subsidize the difference between actual cost and actual selling price. Through this price regulation scheme, Thailand was able to completely phase out the use of leaded benzene oil by replacing it with the unleaded one.

Background in summary:

     What is the Oil Fund?: The Oil Fund comprises of a monetary reserve that will be used to maintain domestic retail price level at a set ceiling in times when global petroleum prices soar by subsidizing domestic oil producers and importers.

     Which petroleum products are being subsidized?: From 1979-1990, the Government had regulated retail prices of all types of petroleum products both imported and domestic. Then in 1991, regulations to control retail prices of Gasoline, Kerosene, Diesel and Fuel oil were abrogated and free competition was allowed in the market. The only type of petroleum product that is still being regulated today (up until 31 December 2000) is Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG).

     Where does the money that goes into the Oil Fund come from?: In order to subsidize LPG retail prices, the Oil Fund receives regular income from Oil Fund Tax levied on importers and domestic producers. (See Percentage of unleaded gasoline retail price going to various taxes) The National Energy Policy Office (NEPO), as secretariat of the Oil Fund, is responsible for calculating tax level that would go to the Oil Fund, by considering the changes in influencing factors such as, the global petroleum price and the level of monetary reserve remaining in the Oil Fund.

     How did Thailand completely phased out leaded benzene oil?: Regulation of petroleum price by using subsidizing money from the Oil Fund has also led to the complete eradication of leaded gasoline in 1996. By subsidizing the price of unleaded gasoline, retail price of leaded gasoline was more expensive and motorists were discouraged from using it. At the same time, heavy public campaign was carried out to inform the public about the benefits of switching to unleaded gasoline.

     Is there any physical proof?: Although there are no concrete evidential statistics to prove that the abolishment of leaded gasoline has decreased the level of municipal air pollution, it could be visually observed that the majority of vehicles running in the city of Bangkok no longer emit black smog from their exhaust pipes.

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
2	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	2	Cost efficient.
2	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		-	Participation of the community
2	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	2	Participation of resource owners/users
2	Socio-cultural adaptability.	2	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
3	Level of development adaptability.	2	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
3	Style of government adaptability.	2	Ability to attract political interest/support
3	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	-	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:   Sustainability of the project:      Awareness and visions: In order to reduce the impact of future global oil price increase Thailand is aiming at reducing its dependency on oil products and switching to other energy sources. The Government is trying to increase the usage of natural gas for electricity generation, which is believed to be a cheaper and cleaner source of energy, alternative to oil. Adaptability of the project to other situations:      Style of Government adaptability: The style of government is the most important feature that has contributed to the success of the Oil Fund, along with the success of stabilizing LPG prices and phasing out of unleaded benzene oil. If other countries would like to adopt the idea, the government of such country would have to be really strong in enforcing policy measures, such as imposing Oil Fund Tax on petroleum products. Process of decision making and implementation:      Policies and measures: Other policy measures that Thailand has adopted to reduce the use of energy is demand side management, which is the promotion of energy efficiency in order to reduce energy consumption. The Government has been launching numerous public campaigns to educate the public on how to use energy as efficient as possible, for example, by purchasing electrical appliances with energy efficient labels. Also, the government and private sector, are also being energy efficient themselves by replacing old electrical appliances with new one that require less electricity to run. In fact, the Government has set up 'The Energy Conservation Fund' to finance all energy conservation programmes. For me details please go to The Energy Conservation Fund. Cost efficiency: