As of today (11th Dec, 2008), the price of petrol in Malaysia is RM1.90/liter. Even though this seems good in the face of things, I can’t help but wonder on some topics:
- Did you notice that the price of natural gas hasn’t changed? If you are going to follow market forces in pricing petrol, why not gas? Is it because gas consumers has more political clout and more to lose if the current low market price for gas goes up? Or is it because the average man in his Produa doesn’t know about it.
- For comparison, the EIA site has the price of natural gas as USD $5.686 per MMBtu for January 2009. From Gas Malaysia’s tariff site, the cost of gas ranges from RM19.18/mmBtu to RM28.29/mmBtu. That’s $5.38 to $7.93, converted.
- The low petrol price means that the people’s focus moves away from improvement of public conveniences, and back towards getting to work in the relative comfort of private vehicles. I believe that engineers, esp the Institution of Engineers, could have done more faster to improve the lot of the commuter, and recruit more converts to communal travel.
- Low petrol prices means low crude oil prices, which puts my job in jeopardy. But hey, nothing I can do about it except be more diligent in seeking worthwhile jobs.
Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 
low oil price means big consultants loosing million dollar work, and smaller (and new) kids wins.
whose gonna pay million for the big boys (you know who you are) to do a FEED? when they can pay a fraction for smaller consultants to do a better job.