Singapore down, Malaysia upped petrol prices? What the *******

AFTER returning to the pre-crisis level of $2 a litre two weeks ago, pump prices fell yesterday on the back of last week's substantial drop in crude oil prices.

The correction of six cents a litre across the board was the single biggest reduction here this year.

Caltex, Shell and SPC made the cut in the morning, while ExxonMobil - which has the biggest retail network here - did so just before 1pm.

With the adjustment, a litre of 98-, 95- and 92-octane petrol now retails at $1.92, $1.787 and $1.737 respectively. Diesel now costs $1.263 a litre.

All the rates are before discount.

After testing 10-month highs of around US$74 a barrel, the commodity slid back to end last week at around US$68 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Some analysts attributed this to worrying jobless figures in major economies. In Europe, the jobless rate rose to 9.5 per cent in July, from 9.4 per cent in June - a 10-year high for the 16 countries which use the euro.

But energy news portal EnergyAsia. com editor Ng Weng Hoong said the price movements have little to do with fundamentals. 'Funds move in, funds move out...I wouldn't put too much significance on the price movements.' Having said that, he noted that real demand for oil could go up next year.

[Straits Times
Singapore]