Minister: RON95 petrol subsidy up 10 sen, pump price unchanged

April 15, 2012

Dateline 2012-03-27:

The government’s subsidy burden for RON95 petrol rose by 10 sen per litre this month due to increasing global oil prices said Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today to the Star.

He said that the total subsidy per litre is now RM1.03. RON95’s pump price presently is RM1.90 per litre.

Ismail Sabri said the government does not want people to bear the burden.

Last December RON95 pump price was raised 5 sen.

Late last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak assured Malaysians that RON95’s — which is used by most motorists — present price would be sustained regardless of global oil prices.

 

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From The Star – Subsidies = inefficiency?

December 21, 2011

Not strictly oil & gas, but something near and dear.

Dateline 2011-12-11:

What do water and oil have in common? How we use both shows how much further we have to go as a country.

IT’S the rainy season again, and with every downpour, the first thing that goes through my mind is this: in a country where rain can bring traffic to a standstill, why do we even have to contemplate water shortages?

Although most people don’t perceive that as a crisis at the moment, it is a problem recognised by many in the industry (Malaysia faces looming water crisis, Ecowatch, March 22). In fact, the recent court case between Syabas, the Selangor water company, and the Selangor State Government is only the tip of the iceberg of the water situation in Malaysia.

…

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From The Star – 20-litre ruling

December 16, 2009

From the Star, dateline 2009-12-16:

The ban on the sale of petrol and diesel over 20 litres to foreign cars within a radius of 50km from any point of entry into the country will take effect today.

Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the ban, which was aimed at preventing the smuggling of petrol and diesel, would be in place until a new mechanism for the management of oil subsidy is implemented in May next year.

“Directives have been issued to all petrol stations in the stipulated areas on the new ruling. We have also issued notices to all foreign-registered vehicles in the country informing them of the new regulation,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

With the ruling, he said, only Singapore-registered vehicles were allowed to leave Malaysia with more than 20 litres in their tanks as the authorities in the republic had already imposed a ruling that all vehicles crossing its borders must have their tanks at least three-quarters full of fuel.

I’ve always thought that the petrol stations whose main source of income (and the most vocal in complaint) is selling subsidised fuel to foreign cars, should be considered to be the same category as raiders of our national coffer. Think about it, they are colluding to give away a subsidy meant for the rakyat (at the cost of say RM1/liter) to foreigners. Where do you think that money came from, and whether it is better spent here at home?

You can subscribe to an online version of the paper at the Bluehyppo site, follow links to e-browse.

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Malaysia – An engineer’s take on oil subsidies

March 13, 2008

Since oil subsidies have been a staple ingredient in the media, I thought I would list down some items of discussion with respect to either maintaining or dismantling the current subsidy structure:

  • Subsidies stifle efficiency: With low consumer energy prices, industry might not be willing to develop more efficient technologies that increase efficiency, as there is no financial incentive to do so. Examples of such technologies are inverters to smooth out the start-stop power requirement of equipment such as air conditioners, more efficient lighting technology.
  • Subsidies artificially increase commercial efficiency: If the viability of new manufacturing lines or engineering solutions have a energy cost component, then because energy is cheap, the return on investment would be higher than if energy was factored in at global prices.
  • Malaysian pays for neighbours’ gas: ‘Nuff said.

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