Laos Restores Fuel Supply With Thailand Deal as Diesel Prices Had Surged Over 100%
Updated
Updated · Asia Times · Aug 4
Laos Restores Fuel Supply With Thailand Deal as Diesel Prices Had Surged Over 100%
1 articles · Updated · Asia Times · Aug 4
Summary
June brought a formal cross-border fuel supply deal with Thailand, allowing Laos to stabilize supplies and reinstate fuel taxes it had suspended during the crisis.
Laos had been among ASEAN’s worst-hit economies after the Hormuz closure: hundreds of stations shut by March, diesel prices jumped more than 100% in a month, and schools cut weeks short.
Thailand kept refined fuel flowing to Laos through March and April even after losing 50% of its own crude supply, helped by an energy relationship tied to Thai hydropower imports from Laos.
The contrast across ASEAN was stark: Indonesia absorbed a currency shock, while the Philippines declared a one-year energy emergency and still faced some of the region’s highest pump prices without strategic reserves.
The episode suggests regional energy resilience depended not just on stockpiles but on cross-border ties that could keep fuel moving when Hormuz traffic stopped.