Price of Petrol in Malaysia

The recent hike in the price of crude oil has made the Malaysians fear that there will be another increase in the retail price of petrol.

At present, the price per litre of petrol is RM1.92 and diesel is RM1.52. The Government is telling the people that the amount of subsidy is very huge, at the expense of not being able to finance many other projects / development.

The irony of it is that Malaysia has its own crude oil and gas fields. I do not have the statistics but I believe the local consumption of crude oil is well below the production.

So, why the expensive price of petrol? The Government explained that it is due to the high price of crude oil, at more than USD100 per barrel. Simple logic says that this argument does not hold water.

It is very simple. Is the Government telling the masses that the price of petrol in Malaysia must be sold at world market price just because the world price increased? It is absurd because we produce our own oil!

In Bahrain, the price of 1 litre of petrol is 100 fils (1000 fils is 1 Bahrain Dinar (BD) which is equal to RM8 as at early Jan / Feb 2008). Visit any of the GCC countries and you will find that the price of petrol is cheaper than water.

How about increasing the price of rubber products in Malaysia because the world market price of rubber increased? Or will the Government allow the producers of cooking oil made from local palm oil increase the price because the price of crude palm oil (CPO) increased?

Mind you, Malaysia is one of the biggest producer of natural rubber and oil palm in the world.

The point is that the price of petrol should be cheap in Malaysia. Is PETRONAS insisting that Malaysian people pay the market price for crude oil? If Malaysian cannot pay the market price, better to sell is somewhere else?

Maybe Malaysian must pay world market price because Petronas must make money! This is to finance the production cost and other related cost. Has anyone ever questioned Petronas on their cost efficiency? If they are efficient, maybe they can sell the crude oil cheaper to Malaysian and still make money! And the Government do not have to pay huge subsidy to make the price of petrol affordable to the masses.