'Thailand touts ethanol to curtail foreign oil dependency'

Bangkok (Agence France-Presse): Thailand plans to make ethanol its primary energy source for transportation needs as a means of slashing its dependency on foreign oil, the country's energy minister said in a report Thursday.

Pongthep Thekpkanjana said the government would promote the use of biofuels such as alcohol-based ethanol because they can be manufactured using indigenous crops such as sugar cane, the Nation nespaper said.

"Using ethanol will decrease our dependency on imported oil," Pongthep was quoted as saying. "Our many plantations will become our sources of fuel."

No time frame was mentioned for the ethanol plan, and the report did not state how Thailand's substantial auto manufacturing industry or vehicle use would be affected.

Thailand's net fuel imports total roughly US$6 billion a year, or about five percent of the country's gross domestic product.

The kingdom's National Economic Social Development Board has played down the impact of rising crude oil prices in the event of a U.S.-Iraq conflict, saying such an outcome would slow growth by just 0.07 percentage points.