Fuel pump prices continue northwards; 95-octane petrol breaches $3

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ST20210216-202197893818-Lim Yaohui-pixbudget/

Motorist pumping petrol at Caltex Petrol Service Station at 4870 Beach Road after the Budget was announced on Feb 16, 2021. 

Motorists will have to pay more at the pump from Tuesday (Feb 16), with petrol duties raised for the first time in six years.

Announcing the hike with immediate effect during his Budget speech on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said that motorists will also be given road tax and additional petrol duty rebates to help offset the higher costs.

Petrol duties were last raised in 2015 to encourage less car usage and reduce carbon emissions.

(ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI)

Caltex was the first to raise the price of its 95-octane petrol beyond $3 to $3.03 a litre at its network of 25 stations.

PHOTO: ST FILE

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SINGAPORE - Petrol prices at the pumps have been on an uptrend for over a month, with the popular 95-octane fuel at one major retail chain crossing the $3 mark.

Caltex, an American brand with the second-smallest network among five majors here, fired the first salvo by posting a price of $3.03 for a litre of 95-octane petrol on Monday afternoon – 11 cents higher than

its price five weeks ago.

While prices of all fuels across the five brands have been climbing in the past five weeks, posted rates of regular petrol and diesel at Caltex are now the highest, according to Fuel Kaki, a pump price tracker set up by the Consumers Association of Singapore.

The 92-octane fuel now ranges from $2.86 (SPC) to $2.98 (Caltex), while the 95-octane is between $2.90 (SPC) and $3.03 (Caltex).

The 98-octane fuel ranges from $3.38 (SPC) to $3.46 (Shell), while the so-called premium 98-octane is between $3.54 (Sinopec) and $3.69 (Caltex, Shell).

The price hikes come on the

back of rising crude oil prices.

The benchmark Brent crude traded at just above US$95 a barrel on Tuesday – its highest since last November.

Reuters reported that the upward trend is being fuelled by weak United States shale output and production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

After discounts derived from using selected credit cards and mobile payments, the average price of 92-octane petrol ranges from $2.43 at SPC to $2.49 at Caltex, while that for 95-octane fuel ranges from $2.30 at Sinopec (which has only three stations) to $2.54 (Caltex, Shell).

Fuel Kaki, which started tracking pump prices in January 2020, now offers

a mobile app that provides real-time updates

whenever fuel retailers adjust their prices. The Price Kaki app is available on the Apple App Store, Google Play and Huawei AppGallery.

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