KUALA LUMPUR, 10 Nov 2008: Twenty petrol station operators have been issued show cause letters following the disruptions in the fuel supply recently, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said.
He said among excuses given by the operators were insufficient supply, delay in the delivery and that they had yet to order new supplies.
He said the disruptions occurred following the government’s decision to reduce the fuel price on 1 Nov.
“The operators, as traders of a controlled item, should ensure that the supply is enough at all times,” he told reporters after opening the price-reduction campaign by the Association of Muslim Restaurant Operators Malaysia (Presma) and Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners’ Association of Malaysia (Primas) in Bangsar.
He said the petrol stations faced RM100,000 in fines if found guilty under the Supply Control Act.
Shahrir also said that the government was monitoring the global oil price before deciding whether it was possible to further reduce the fuel price.
“Just wait… at the moment it is still being looked into. The price is now below US$70 per barrel. We’ll see if the price continues to drop,” he said.
He reiterated that there was a possibility that a fifth price reduction could be implemented by middle of this month if the global fuel price continued to drop.
In June, the government increased the fuel prices — from RM1.92 to RM2.70 per litre for petrol and from RM1.58 to RM2.58 per litre for diesel.
The government had since announced price reductions on four occasions, the last being on 1 Nov. The RON97 petrol is now priced at RM2.15 per litre, RON92 petrol at RM2.05 per litre and diesel at RM2.20 per litre.
Meanwhile, Shahrir said the Economic Council meeting which he attended today at parliament house had discussed, among other things, electricity tariffs and bus fares. — Bernama
