> RON 97 is now RM 2.15

Effective midnight, pump prices of petrol RON97 would be lowered by 15 sen to RM2.15 per litre.

RON92 will be reduced from RM2.20 to RM2.05 per litre, while diesel will also be lowered by 15 sen to RM2.05 per litre as well.

According to Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Abdul Samad, the price change is to be made every two weeks and thus the next revision will be on Nov 15.

Met after the Umno supreme council meeting this evening, Shahrir said although crude oil prices have dropped by half to US$62 per barrel, other considerations had to be taken into account when reducing the price.

The minister said the government had stocked up crude oil a month ago when the price was still high and the reduction must be based on the price at the purchasing time.

"It takes about a month to process crude oil to petrol and when the government bought them, the price was not US$62 per barrel so we cannot say the price is this so this is how much you have to reduce it," he said - Malaysiakini.