Fuel in thailand

darryladrien · May 10, 2012

Hello fellow riders,

Im Darryl from Malaysia, would like to ask regarding the fuel in Thailand. i read a couple of post on the forum and some other sites, but i still dont understand the concept of fuel in Thailand. I ride a Kawasaki Ninja 250R EFI version, we in Malaysia we have 2 types of fuel RON95 & RON97 both are unleaded.For Malaysia i have no problems. In Thailand i understand they have 95 & 91 fuel what are the difference?
Can i use the 95 & 91 fuel on my bike? Sorry im a newbie here.

Thanks

Darryl Adrien

darryladrien · May 11, 2012

Captain_Slash;278951 wrote: Hi Darryl

Thailand has gasohol 91 and 95 which is 10% ethanol plus there is ordinary 91 petrol and sometimes you might find 95 petrol.

I would imagine your bike will run fine on any of them

Thanks Captain Slash.

TonyBKK · May 13, 2012

Hi Darryl!

Welcome to the GT Rider!

The price of fuel in Thailand might be a bit of a shock to you compared to Malaysian prices, but your fuel injected Ninja 250 can run on many different fuels including Gasohol up to 10%.

Do NOT try to run your Ninja on E20 or E85 gasohol!

The least expensive fuel for your bike will be gasohol 91.

I miss cheap Malaysian gas!

554955_10151453929690710_508210709_23739419_610019527_n.jpg

Happy Trails!

Tony

darryladrien · May 16, 2012

Hi TonyBKK,

Cheers mate, Yeah the prices are very shocking the fuel prices in Thailand go up and down whenever they want.
Back in 2010, when i first came to Thailand, the prices were 35 bht for 95, but now recently i went to Phuket the price was 41 bht for 95 fuel.

One question Tony, what is the difference between 91 fuel & 95? the difference i know is 91 is more expensive than 95?
Which is the better fuel?

Ya, Malaysian fuel is more user friendly, you can just fill up what ever u want at cheaper prices. But i still love Thailand.hehe

brian_bkk · May 17, 2012

Captain_Slash;279125 wrote: RON91 and RON95 is the difference, the reason you are seeing 95 cheaper than 91 is because the 95 is gasohol which has a lower tax structure, you will find 91 gasohol too which is cheaper still.

I personally use gasohol 91 as my first choice and if thats not available I then use gasohol 95 in my KLX 250

Same as Captain slash for my KLX and Ninja 650.

Why pay more tax

TonyBKK · May 17, 2012

darryladrien;279102 wrote: Hi TonyBKK,

Cheers mate, Yeah the prices are very shocking the fuel prices in Thailand go up and down whenever they want.
Back in 2010, when i first came to Thailand, the prices were 35 bht for 95, but now recently i went to Phuket the price was 41 bht for 95 fuel.

One question Tony, what is the difference between 91 fuel & 95? the difference i know is 91 is more expensive than 95?
Which is the better fuel?

Ya, Malaysian fuel is more user friendly, you can just fill up what ever u want at cheaper prices. But i still love Thailand.hehe

It's not about "better" fuel, per se, the number you see is the octane rating of the fuel.

In Thailand you run your bike on 91 benzene, 91 gasohol, 95 benzene (which is getting harder and harder to find) and 95 gasohol.

Thailand subsidizes gasohol blends so gasohol 91 and 95 is cheaper than benzene 91 and 95.

Your Kawasaki Ninja is designed to run on 91 octane and higher and gasohol up to 10%. You can run your Ninja on 95 without any ill effects, but on a stock bike you won't get any benefit from running higher octane fuel.

Ride on!

Tony

darryladrien · May 30, 2012

Captain_Slash;279125 wrote: RON91 and RON95 is the difference, the reason you are seeing 95 cheaper than 91 is because the 95 is gasohol which has a lower tax structure, you will find 91 gasohol too which is cheaper still.

I personally use gasohol 91 as my first choice and if thats not available I then use gasohol 95 in my KLX 250

ouh good information there captain,so PTT gas stations offer 91 & 95 gasahol/ benzene?

darryladrien · May 30, 2012

TonyBKK;279161 wrote: It's not about "better" fuel, per se, the number you see is the octane rating of the fuel.

In Thailand you run your bike on 91 benzene, 91 gasohol, 95 benzene (which is getting harder and harder to find) and 95 gasohol.

Thailand subsidizes gasohol blends so gasohol 91 and 95 is cheaper than benzene 91 and 95.

Your Kawasaki Ninja is designed to run on 91 octane and higher and gasohol up to 10%. You can run your Ninja on 95 without any ill effects, but on a stock bike you won't get any benefit from running higher octane fuel.

Ride on!

Tony

thanks tony, so is it better for me to fill 91 or 95?

TonyBKK · May 30, 2012

darryladrien;279468 wrote: thanks tony, so is it better for me to fill 91 or 95?

Hi Darryl,

As I mentioned in previous post:

Your Kawasaki Ninja is designed to run on 91 octane and higher and gasohol up to 10%. You can run your Ninja on 95 without any ill effects, but on a stock bike you won't get any benefit from running higher octane fuel.

Ride on!

Tony

Nipper · Jun 4, 2012

I run a Yamaha T-MAX 500cc. I asked Yamaha what fuel to use and they recommended 91Red pumps which is at all PTT service stations. I have always used PTT as they seem to have the most turnover and there is less chance of getting contaminated fuel on trips.

Sharktooth · Sep 18, 2012

What's the difference between 91 red and 91 green?

TonyBKK · Sep 18, 2012

Sharktooth;282661 wrote: What's the difference between 91 red and 91 green?

Red is Gasoline, Green is Gasohol

Sharktooth · Sep 19, 2012

TonyBKK;282677 wrote: Red is Gasoline, Green is Gasohol

But I read that the red 95 pump at the shell station is gasohol?

TonyBKK · Sep 20, 2012

Sharktooth;282700 wrote: But I read that the red 95 pump at the shell station is gasohol?

Yes, that's correct- Shell does not sell 95 benzene anymore.

The way Shell labels their fuels in Thailand is not at all clear, and to make it worse, the pump attendants usually have no clue either.

In the "old days" Shell V-Power was pure benzene, but several years ago Shell started adding 5% ethanol without really telling anyone, or even re-labeling their pumps. I believe the ethanol content has since been bumped up to 10%, again, without making it clear at the pump, so it's pretty deceptive, if you ask me.

Now it seems they are re-labeling the pumps, changing the V-Power to "V-Power Nitro+ Gasohol 95" which sure is a mouthful and I don't know if anything has changed other than the name.

FuelSave Gasohol91:	35.18
FuelSave Gasohol95:	37.63
Fuelsave Unleaded 91:	43.05
V-Power Nitro+ Gasohol 95:	40.35

ray23 · Oct 4, 2012

Guess this solves the debate

Breakingnews >
[h=2]No more regular petrol in January[/h]

Published: 4/10/2012 at 06:37 PM
Online news:

Retail outlets will continue selling regular petrol at pumps until the end of the year, giving Thai motorists a couple of extra months to prepare for the change, which is intended to promote greater use of ethanol-based fuels, Energy Minister Arak Chonlatanon said on Thursday.
Originally, petrol 91 was scheduled to be phased out in January this year, then it was postponed until October because local refineries were not ready for the change.
In October, a fire at the Bangkok refinery of Bangchak Petroleum Plc resulted in a supply shortage, he added.
The ministry will mandate that petrol 91 be phased out in December 2012 in line with its policy to promote greater use of bio fuel in transportation.
Thailand consumes 20-21 million litres of petrol a day, of which gasohol E10, E20 and E85 combined account for 12 million litres. The rest, around eight million litres, is pure petrol.

Changnoi1 · Oct 4, 2012

Seems in contradiction with the fact that I see more & more gasoline stations selling 91 & 95 benzine.
Here upcountry there are still many old bikes riding that can not use gasohol.

Chang Noi

TonyBKK · Oct 4, 2012

TiT, I'll believe it when I see it

ronwebb · Oct 5, 2012

Changnoi1;283083 wrote: Seems in contradiction with the fact that I see more & more gasoline stations selling 91 & 95 benzine.
Here upcountry there are still many old bikes riding that can not use gasohol.

to say nothing of all the farmers who have small machinery powered by 4 stroke carburetted engines!!!!

Cruising · Jan 11, 2013

I couldn`t get any 91 benzine around the Chiang Khong area this week and was offered 95 gasahol instead.

Just tried to get some 91 benzine for the scooter today in CM and before i noticed i was being filled with 95 benzine @ close to 50 baht/L from a PT station.

I hope this is not the start of 91 benzine being phased out?

Ian Bungy · Jan 11, 2013

There is another Thread on GT-Rider discussing this already, do a Search for it? That is Exactly what is happening 91 Benzine is being Dropped and replaced By 95 Benzine. More Expensive but better for the Older Carb Bikes? I will use it in all My Bikes.

Cruising · Jan 11, 2013

Thanks Ian thats the thread i was looking for.

If a bike has been tuned to run on 91 it`s not really any benefit running 95 in it whether new or old.
It`s certainly going to cost more to run older machines now.