The operation, led by Lt Gen Nopasin Poolsawat, an adviser to the national police chief, involves multi-agency teams including officials from the Department of Energy Business, provincial commercial offices, excise departments, and forensic units, reports the Bangkok Post.
Authorities conducted inspections at seven strategic sites across three provinces - Khon Kaen, Samut Sakhon, and Saraburi - covering pipeline operators, oil retailers, depot management units, and storage facilities responsible for transporting fuel to the Northeast.
Investigators are examining discrepancies in reported fuel volumes to determine whether operators engaged in stockpiling to exploit price volatility amid the crisis.
At one inspected site in Sao Hai district of Saraburi, a pipeline transport company cooperated with officials, allowing access for inspection.
Preliminary findings indicate the firm operates solely as a pipeline transporter, with fuel owned by four to five major oil companies. In addition to pipeline delivery, fuel is also transported by tanker trucks to retail stations.
Officials are reviewing procurement records, daily fuel intake and distribution logs, inventory data, truck registration records, delivery documents, CCTV footage, pipeline system layouts, and electricity usage data covering March - particularly during the Mar 20–25 period when shortages intensified following geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
The inspections form part of a broader government directive to audit all 92 oil depots nationwide, with the sites visited yesterday included in that list.
Drivers interviewed at the site provided insight into distribution patterns. One tanker driver from a small petrol station in Nakhon Ratchasima said he transported about 32,000 litres a trip, with a travel time of four hours, depending on company scheduling.