KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 — PKR urged Putrajaya today to implement the consignment system for petrol stations nationwide, saying this would enable fuel pump prices to be adjusted weekly according to global market prices.
Furthermore, added PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli, the system—where petrol stations sell the fuel stock still owned by oil companies, instead of buying their inventory in bulk—would also safeguard station owners from further losses that could see them close shop.
“With the implementation of this consignment stock system, we can no longer use the excuse that the price cannot be adjusted every week to ensure the profit of petrol station operators,” the Pandan MP said in a statement.
“Barisan Nasional (BN) also can no longer collect billions of ringgit in petrol and diesel tax from the public,” he added, claiming that the move will cause fuel pump prices to fall according to market prices.
In the consignment system, the fuel stock would be legally owned by the oil companies, but held by another party — in this case, the petrol stations — which subsequently act as agents that sell it on behalf of the oil firms.
According to Rafizi, this system would not financially affect station owners even with any petrol and diesel price change, as they only act as agents and are paid in fixed commissions.
In comparison, he said the current system forces station owners to buy their fuel inventory in bulk from oil companies, causing them to be more financially vulnerable to price changes.
Rafizi also said that with consignment stocks, oil companies would face profit or loss risks from petrol and diesel price changes only once every year, something which he said the companies could afford with its massive profits.
Yesterday, Rafizi alleged that petrol stations could be forced to shut down as they are incurring losses in the thousands due to Putrajaya’s sloppily implemented managed float system for petrol pump prices.
The federal PKR lawmaker said the federal government had failed to take into consideration the higher prices petrol station operators had to pay for its fuel inventory, which were already stocked up before the drop in RON95 and diesel prices on January 1.
Rafizi noted that petrol stations were still paying RM2.26 (minus 14 sen commission) for RON95 per litre prior to January 1 and when it dropped to RM1.91 a litre, operators incurred a 21 sen per litre loss.
Putrajaya last month announced that direct fuel subsidies for consumers will be eliminated completely, with prices set using a managed float similar to that employed for RON97 since July 2010.
