Petrol Malaysia

Dear Reader, Petrol and diesel prices have come down by 10 sen since last Thursday (24th September 2008). The new prices are now: RM2.45 per litre for petrol, and RM2.40 per litre for diesel. (Ref: Forbes, Malaysia Cuts Petrol, Diesel Prices - Minister , 24.9.2008) Yet, inflation remains its highest in 27 years for this nation at 8.5% since July. Bloomberg further reports on the inflation. (Ref: Bloomberg.com, Malaysian Inflation Holds At Fastest Pace In 27 Years , by S. Phang and R. Pakiam, 24.9.2008) According to the report: "Consumer prices rose 8.5% from a year earlier, matching July's gain". A Singaporean research center, Action Economics, expected inflation to ease from the reduction of oil prices. Recent events have gone to show that times are toughening up. The US credit crunch has led to the closure of large corporations, like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch. According to a press release by Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia's central bank), Mone...

CNNMoney.com (also, incidentally, Associated Press and USA Today ) reported that a report by Masters Capital Management concluded that speculation could have been the driving factor behind the price increase of petrol. In their report, Masters Capital Management reported: Investors poured USD$60 billion into oil futures from January to May 2008; The price of crude oil increased from USD$95 per barrel in January, to USD$145 per barrel in July; Investors have withdrawn USD$39 billion from oil markets between July 2008 to the present day; These investors became alarmed when US Senate began holding hearings on speculation, starting May 2008; The recent rise of petrol price may have been caused by speculators, not market forces.   The head of Masters Capital Management, Michael Masters, had previously on 20th May 2008, discussed the increasing investment by several new groups. S Dali, in the Star Online, wrote: Masters talked about the resurgence of several groups over the past five years...

It has been some time since I last wrote a post on the Petrol Malaysia dotcom blog. The international price of petrol has been slipping. The OPEC website listed the basket price of petrol as USD$95.29 as of 11th of September 2008 . This drop in oil price has been applauded by many hard hit consumers, who expect national governments to implore oil retailers to lower their prices. It is the first time the international price of petrol has dipped below USD100 per barrel since April. Still, many oil retailers continue to sell petrol at elevated prices, following the jump in the international price of petrol to USD$147 per barrel.  However, OPEC has become cautious at the slowing demand for petrol. OPEC recently ordered its cartel members to cut production by 530,000 barrels of oil per day. President of OPEC, Chakib Khelil, was quoted: "My hunch is probably the price still will be going down despite the decision that we made."  "I don't think this will affect the consume...

On Merdeka Day this year, the New Straits Times published an article penned by Datuk Saw Choo Boon, chairman of Shell Malaysia, entitled " Petronas one of the new 'Seven Sisters' ". In it, he lauds the success of our own oil and gas company, Petronas. Here are some notable extracts from the article: What Petronas has achieved in a mere 34 years is astounding. It must have been daunting for the small group of government secondees, with no experience in the energy industry, to have been given the onerous task of managing the country's energy resources, developing a national oil and gas business and facing the multinationals that have operated in the country for decades. They had to be courageous and visionary, qualities that have been perpetuated in the Petronas leadership since then. Equally daunting was the decision to venture overseas, to countries with environments that even multinationals find very difficult. This happened when Petronas set itself the ta...