Singapore: 24 Hours of Petrol Retail Price Changes
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 19 March 2009 |
|
A Petrol retail price battle has started between the main players this
week in Singapore, when Caltex re-introduced 92-octane petrol and
priced it below the prevailing market rate.
No fewer than three rounds of cuts were made within 24 hours this
week, as the four oil companies tried to outdo one another. ExxonMobil
was the first to react by lowering its 92-octane fuel by 2.2 cents a
litre to match Caltex's $1.536 (before discount). The giant, which has
the largest pump network of 67 stations, made the change at 10am
- 10 hours after Caltex's surprise move.
Singapore Petroleum Co (SPC) followed suit at 12.30pm.
And by around 4pm, Shell - which is the second biggest player with 63
stations - did a double-barrelled reduction. It matched its rivals'
92-octane price and cut 95-octane by 2.9 cents a litre to $1.537. Its
price advantage was short-lived. At 5pm, Caltex and ExxonMobil matched
Shell's 95-octane rate.
Caltex upped the ante by bringing its 92-octane - which it
re-introduced after phasing it out in 2000 - 2.9 cents lower to $1.507
a litre. At 5.30pm, SPC matched the market's prevailing 95-octane
rate. An hour later, this home-grown player matched Caltex's 92-octane
rate.
Apparently the industry has not seen such competitive petrol retail price changes for several years.
PetrolWorld 180309
|
