Petrol price has a minimum!

I read The Star news today to find out whether there was going to be any reduction on petrol prices, seeing that it's almost the end of the month now. What I was greeted with, was a moron by the name of Shahrir Abdul Samad saying that the petrol price will have a minimum of RM1.92/litre, regardless of global oil price. According to him, this would bring some stability to the retail price of petrol. I do not understand what he meant by this? Is there anyone complaining on the recent reduction in oil prices? If anything, we as the consumers don't mind this kind of instability at all, if the prices keep plummeting.

Also, on the point of petrol station owners' losses, I think this is just an excuse. Really, if proper planning is being done, I'm sure this could be very well-managed. There was this petrol dealer quoting in the same article:

Ahmad Sarpur, a dealer in Johor, said dealers could lose between RM13,000 and RM25,000 each time petrol is reduced by 15 sen per litre.

“This is because there is a minimum order quantity of 21,000 litres that we must pay for immediately. There is no credit,” he said.

I wonder how he did his calculation? Let's say he orders a minimum quantity of 21,000 litres, and with a reduction of 15 sen per litre, that would come up to 21,000 x 0.15 = RM3,150. Where, pray tell, did the figure of RM13,000 to RM25,000 come about? And I haven't even included the 12 sen margin allocated to all the petrol dealers. If that is taken into account, the losses would only be 3 sen per litre, translating to RM630, assuming minimum quantity is ordered. Also, another assumption is that NONE of the petrol is sold from the morning when the dealers get the petrol delivery, until the night when announcements are usually made.

Now, do you think the excuse provided by the certain moron is actually bullshit? If the petrol dealers really want to minimize losses, the government could either:

1) Provide the dealers 2-3 days notice in advance, so that the dealers could buy the minimum amount for that few days. Or better still, the petrol dealers should be smart enough to know that petrol prices will usually be adjusted at the end of the month, and should only stock up the minimum quantity by then.

2) The government can always reduce just 12 sen per adjustment, but with NO minimum amount of RM1.92/litre. If they reduce 12 sen each time, the petrol dealers are theoretically not suffering from losses.

Finally, the same moron also mentioned selling the petrol at the minimum of RM1.92/litre would enable the government to reduce its subsidy on petrol if the global price fell further. So this is the main reason of setting the minimum? So that the government could SAVE and the rakyat should pay the so-called 'subsidy' instead? This is such a stupid excuse! In the first place, the subsidy amount has already reduced to a meagre value, and if the price reduces, I don't think the subsidy should be reduced! That was what was promised to us when the petrol price was increasing. Now that it's on the decreasing trend, they want to consider pulling back the subsidy? Is that fairness?

I am appalled by how and what the moron thinks. How could he not think on behalf of the consumer? And that, coming from a Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, who doesn't really take the consumers' welfare into consideration.

I don't agree, why must the government put a minimum on the petrol price if the global oil prices keep plunging? Does it make sense to the consumers if say, one day the petrol price retails at RM1.80/litre and we STILL have to pay RM1.92/litre?