Overview of the energy-economic status of Laos and Thailand
Laos is an agriculture-based economy. Though the agriculture sector is the largest economic sector, There is no refinery capacity, nor a railway system in this country.
The energy consumption pattern in Laos is characterized by very low conventional energy consumption. Wood accounts for the biggest share of total primary energy consumption, followed by the imported petroleum products and hydropower. Electricity consumption and energy use per capita in Laos are significantly lower than that of Thailand.
Thailand was dominated by both industrial and service sectors. There is high energy demand, it is inevitable that energy imports hold the largest share of total energy supply e.g., crude, petroleum products, natural gas, and electricity. In addition, Thailand plans to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East.
For the demand side, transportation sector hold the largest share of total final energy consumption.
(BTS) is targeted to reduce the energy consumption in the transportation sector of the total electricity generate on in Thailand comes from natural gas, followed by lignite (20%), hydropower (7%), fuel oil (3%) , and biomass, respectively. Power development in the country is currently becoming an important issue for three reasons:(i)an opposition to fossil fuels for power generation has stemmed from environmental concerns, (ii) requirement to diversity fuel used in power generation and (iii) nuclear energy usage is further away but comprehensive plans could soon be announced. To avoid these complexities, power import, is now considered as the alternative supply source for Thailand in the future.