Petrol companies cut prices by 4 cents for 98-octane fuel, which now costs $1.67 per litre, as well as diesel, which now costs $1.14 per litre. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
MOTORISTS got another slight reprieve on Friday as pump prices for diesel and some grades of petrol fell again - the second time in two days.
Petrol companies cut prices by 4 cents for 98-octane fuel, which now costs $1.67 per litre, as well as diesel, which now costs $1.14 per litre.
The ultra-premium fuels went down too. Shell's V-Power now costs $1.849 a litre while Caltex's Platinum is now $1.846 a litre.
Prices remained the same for 92-octane and 95-octane fuels.
A spokesman for Chevron, which owns the Caltex brand, said the price slide two days in a row reflected the 'supply, demand, competition and marketplace.'
She said: 'Retail pump prices reflect the cost of crude oil to refiners, refinery processing costs, marketing and distribution costs, government taxes, as well as the profits of refiners, distributors and retailers.'
Oil prices had been inching upwards in the first weeks of the year, up till the first slide on Thursday.
Crude oil prices had, in late December, slide to a 4 1/2-year low of US$33.44 per barrel, after July's sky-rocket peak of US$147 per barrel.
