Petrol Malaysia

BMW Sauber On the website for the BMW Sauber F1 Team, the following words appear: "After four years with the BMW Sauber F1 Team, BMW is turning its hand to other motorsport projects from 2010, while the Sauber Team aims to follow on from the success shared during this period." (Ref: BMW Sauber F1 Team website , accessed 26th February 2010) A link on the site brings visitors to the new BMW Motorsport website, whereas Team Sauber's website will soon be accessible. On 1st February 2010, Paul Tan, automobile scene blogger, wrote a piece about a sponsorless BMW Sauber C29 being launched. The car does not sport any sponsor logos as yet, but may soon be decorated by logos of the drivers' personal sponsors. (Ref: paultan.org, 1st February 2010. Sponsorless BMW Sauber C29 launched .) It was noted that BMW had exited the sport, but red tape and lack of time necessitated the name "BMW Sauber" to be retained for this season's race. It was uncertain whether the n...

The much touted upheaval in the fuel price will not come to pass. The Government has announced that the controversial plan to implement tiered fuel pricing via MyKad identification, will be shelved. (Source: The Sun, 24th Feb 2010. No go for tiered pricing .) Fuel subsidies will continue for the meantime. The plan was called off due to the logistics horror that would ensue from having 15 million people queue up at the National Registration Department, simply to enable their identification cards as a means of identifying whether they qualify for subsidised fuel. The system, which would have been known as ePetrol, was detailed in a report by the Star dated 26th May 2008. (Ref: The Star, 26th May 2008. How ePetrol system works .) (Update) The Malaysian Insider reported that the Government pulled the plug on the plan after complaints from consumers and petrol dealers, who worried about long queues at petrol stations. Despite that, an unnamed industry insider was quoted saying, ".....

Petronas, often known as the biggest contributor to the Malaysian economy, has a new CEO. The Star published an interview and a profile with the new CEO of Petronas, Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas. (Ref: The Star, 8th February 2010. Shamsul an adequately qualified successor at Petronas ) Amongst others, the interview mentioned: Datuk Shamsul joined Petronas in 1974 and worked his way upwards; Datuk Shamsul's last held position was chairman and CEO of MISC Bhd between 2004 to 2009; and Datuk Shamsul has his challenges cut out for him as Petronas needs to handle Petronas' commitments to develop the Iraqi oil industry, and generate a targeted RM30 billion per annum. The appointment of Datuk Shamsul as CEO may have something to do with Dr Mahathir's opinion that the new CEO of Petronas must be "from within". Dr Mahathir, ex-Premier of Malaysia and advisor to Petronas, is influential despite having retired from politics. (Ref: The Star, 28th January 2010. Dr M: New Petro...