Thailand Was Charging You Shipping Costs From Singapore On Fuel Refined Inside The Country. For 22 Years. They Just Stopped.

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THAILAND JUST FOUND OUT IT HAS BEEN CHARGING CONSUMERS SHIPPING COSTS FROM SINGAPORE ON FUEL REFINED INSIDE THE COUNTRY. FOR 22 YEARS.

Energy Minister Akanat Promphan announced a new refinery-gate fuel pricing formula effective October 29 that removes what the ministry is calling “phantom costs.” Since 2004, Thai fuel prices have been calculated as if the fuel were shipped by sea from Singapore to Thailand, with freight, insurance and transportation loss charges built into the price at the pump. The problem: most of that fuel is refined domestically. The shipping costs were never actually incurred. They were assumed in a formula that nobody updated for 22 years. The fix removes those fictional charges and is expected to save Thai consumers roughly ฿10.84 billion per year. The immediate impact at the pump: B7 diesel dropped ฿1 per liter and gasohol 91 and 95 dropped ฿0.50 per liter on October 29. Refinery stocks on the Thai exchange fell between 2.9% and 8.3% on the news, which tells you exactly who was benefiting from the old formula.

If this sounds familiar, it should. In June, the same Energy Minister revealed that Thai households had been “secretly” charged for the cost of public street lighting through their electricity bills for over 30 years, a burden of ฿18 billion per year. That charge was removed from household bills effective September 1. The pattern is the same both times: a cost that should never have been passed to consumers was embedded in a formula decades ago, nobody questioned it, and billions of baht flowed in the wrong direction every year until someone finally looked. The fuel fix and the streetlight fix together represent roughly ฿29 billion per year in costs that consumers were paying and should not have been. None of this means Thailand’s energy pricing is suddenly cheap or fair. The Oil Fuel Fund still carries a ฿100 billion deficit. Global oil prices remain volatile. But the direction is clear: the government is auditing the assumptions built into energy pricing and removing the ones that do not hold up.

Bottom line: Fictional shipping costs from Singapore on domestically refined fuel. For 22 years. ฿10.84 billion a year. Removed on October 29. Combined with the streetlight charge removed in September, that is roughly ฿29 billion in annual phantom costs now eliminated. Your fuel and electricity bills are both lower than they were six months ago because someone finally looked at the formulas.

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THAILAND’S 20 BEST BARS 2026 JUST DROPPED. DRY WAVE IS #1 FOR THE THIRD YEAR. HERE IS THE LIST.

Thailand’s 20 Best Bars 2026 were announced on October 26 at the Bangkok Bar Show Awards at the Sindhorn Kempinski Hotel. Dry Wave Cocktail Studio in Thonglor held the #1 spot for the third consecutive year. BKK Social Club at the Four Seasons took #2. Bar Us claimed #3. G.O.D. landed at #4 and Last Call rounded out the top five. The list also includes Cherry Olive Cocktail Bar (Best New Bar), Opium Bar, Bar Sathorn and Zuma (Best Restaurant Bar). Bartender of the Year went to Supawit “Palm” Muttarattana of Dry Wave. Tax Bar took Menu Design of the Year. BKK Social Club won the Art of Hospitality Award. Mod Kaew Wine Bar won Best Wine Bar. The Norm won Best Rooftop Bar. And Tamaryn Cooper won Emerging Bartender of the Year.

What makes the list worth saving is the range. Cocktail studios, hotel bars, wine bars, rooftop bars and neighborhood spots are all competing at the highest level. Bangkok had already been named Asia’s most represented cocktail city earlier this year when the separate Asia’s 50 Best Bars list placed eight Bangkok bars in the continental top 50, more than any other city on the continent. For a city where you can still get a beer for ฿60 at a corner shop, the fact that its cocktail culture has become the deepest in Asia is one of the more underrated reasons Bangkok keeps attracting people who could live anywhere. The full list is your weekend starting point. Pick two bars you have never been to. Go this weekend, if you want to experience all the city has to offer.

Bottom line: Dry Wave, BKK Social Club, Bar Us, G.O.D., Last Call. Top five. The 20 Best Bars list covers cocktail lounges, wine bars, hotel bars, rooftops and newcomers. If you live here and have not explored the cocktail scene beyond your usual spot, this weekend is the time.

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⚡ QUICK HITS

Thailand hotel closures jumped 42% in the first nine months of 2026. The country recorded 148 hotel and accommodation businesses shutting down between January and September, while new hotel registrations fell 31.2% over the same period. The numbers run directly counter to the recovery narrative that tourism officials have been pushing. Thailand is still well short of its 36.7 million visitor target for the year, and the hotels that cannot absorb the gap between projected and actual demand are closing. For anyone in the hospitality or tourism sector, the data confirms what operators on the ground have been saying for months: the numbers are not adding up for smaller properties.

Myanmar fighting spilled across the Thai border. Thai troops fired four warning rounds. More than 20 homes in Mae Sot were damaged. Government forces and resistance fighters exchanged heavy weapons fire near Myawaddy on October 29, sending shells and gunfire into Mae Sot district in Tak province. A 55-year-old local Thai woman was injured by shrapnel. The Ratchamanu Task Force deployed four 120mm smoke and illumination rounds to deter the cross-border fire. This is not the first time fighting has reached Thai soil, but the scale of damage to civilian homes is escalating. For anyone with business interests or travel plans involving the Mae Sot corridor, the border situation is active and unpredictable.

Tourism businesses backed the ฿450 tourist arrival fee, with conditions. The proposed fee, separate from the shelved ฿1,000 departure tax, would include insurance coverage for tourists while in Thailand. Industry groups support the concept but want clarity on insurance terms, payment methods and implementation dates before signing off. The proposal still needs approval from the National Tourism Policy Committee and Cabinet. Nothing is final yet, but the direction of travel is toward some form of tourist entry fee in 2027.

Suvarnabhumi says ground subsidence caused the runway incident. Airport officials attributed a recent runway surface problem to subsidence rather than construction or maintenance failures. Suvarnabhumi has dealt with subsidence issues since its opening, as the airport was built on soft clay ground in Bangkok’s eastern suburbs. The explanation does not remove the infrastructure concern, but it shifts the conversation from maintenance accountability to geological engineering.

🍸 SPOT OF THE DAY

DRY WAVE COCKTAIL STUDIO (THONGLOR SOI 13)

Dry Wave Cocktail Studio is the #1 bar in Thailand for the third consecutive year and sits at #4 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list. It is on the second floor of the Sodality building on Thonglor Soi 13, opened in January 2024 by bartender Supawit “Palm” Muttarattana, who built his reputation at Vesper and Backstage, two bars that shaped Bangkok’s cocktail identity over the past decade. The concept is called “Super Classics”: each drink fuses two classic cocktails from different eras into a single new creation. The idea is that a drink should ripple, not hit all at once. Layers of spirits, botanicals, smoke and texture build across aroma, flavor and mouthfeel. The Newton’s Law (whisky, granny smith apple, vanilla, tonka bean) is one of the signatures. Average cocktail price is around ฿500.

The space matches the drinks. Wave-patterned sandstone walls, terracotta marble surfaces, a fluid marble-topped bar where you can watch the drinks being made, and an outdoor terrace built around a mature tree that the design wisely left untouched. The room is compact and better suited for conversation and dates than large groups. No food is served, so eat before you go. No reservations, so arrive early, especially on weekends. The bar picked up the Campari One To Watch Award in its first year (2024), entered Asia’s 50 Best Bars at #5 in 2025, then climbed to #4 and Best Bar in Thailand in 2026. That trajectory in under three years is nearly unprecedented in the region. “Palm” Muttarattana also took Bartender of the Year at the Bangkok Bar Show Awards this month. If you have been meaning to check out what Bangkok’s cocktail scene actually looks like at the top, this is where you start.

→ Check their menu and find them here ←

Insider tip: Go on a weeknight if you can. Fridays and Saturdays fill up fast and there are no reservations. Arrive by 7:30PM to get a seat at the bar, which is where the experience is best. Tell the bartender what flavors you like and let them guide you rather than ordering blind from the menu. The outdoor terrace is quieter if the main room is packed.

📍 2nd Floor, SODALITY, 263 Thonglor Soi 13, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110
📞 098 909 3962
🕐 Open daily from 7PM
⭐ #1 Thailand 20 Best Bars 2026 | #4 Asia’s 50 Best Bars | ~฿500 per cocktail
🌐 @drywavecocktailstudio

No reservations. Arrive early on weekends. Always check opening times before heading out.

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