Applied Economics Journal Vol. 20 No. 1 (June 2013): 23-46
Copyright © 2013 Center for Applied Economics Research
ISSN 0858-9291
Received: 10 September 2012
Received in revised form: 13 January 2013
Accepted: 26 February 2013
This paper analyzes the Thai petroleum fiscal regimes, so called Thailand I and Thailand
III, under the concession system for granting petroleum exploration and production rights.
The analytical issues include the sharing of benefit between the government and con-
cessionaires, assurance of the government’s share of the profits, and the incentive for
entrepreneurs to invest and generate efficient operation. The findings reveal that the Thai
petroleum regimes are not flexible because only one set of fiscal instruments is applied.
The regimes cannot be adjusted to either the context of project fields and operation or the
uncertainty of petroleum price. However, the regimes could generate sufficient sharing of
benefit although the share of government cannot be firmly assured. The Thai government
revenue is based only on the royalty and petroleum income tax; it does not receive as
much a share of the profit as the neighboring countries have been receiving under their
sharing systems, which is based on production and the project contracts granted according
to types of petroleum and exploration as well as production areas. The Thai petroleum
regimes, however, give enough incentive to investors. If the Thai government continues
the concession system, it should consider applying an additional fiscal instrument, i.e.
“supplementary income tax” to increase government revenue.
Keywords: petroleum, fiscal regime, concession, taxation
JEL Classification: H27, L71, Q32
An Analysis of Petroleum Fiscal Regime in Thailand (in Thai)*
Puree Sirasoontorn**
Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
Napon Suksai
Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand, E-mail:
[email protected]
* This paper is a part of the research project on “Petroleum Fiscal Regime in Thailand: Survey and Analysis”
granted by Public Policy Studies Institute, Chiang Mai University. An earlier version was presented at the 7th
Thailand Economics Conference, June 8, 2012, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok.
** Corresponding author: Assist. Prof. Puree Sirasoontorn, Ph.D., Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University,
Bangkok, 10200, Thailand. Tel: +66 2 6132442, Fax: +66 2 2249428, E-mail:
[email protected]