Channelnewsasia.com today reported that “local stations lowered prices twice in a day, sparking off what could be a price war and countering talk of collusion among oil companies”. My immediate thought is “Yeah, right.”

A quick check with petrolwatch.com.sg would immediately show you how well coordinated their pricing are like.

Just because two price adjustments occurred over a single day hardly signals a price war! What effectively happend was a mere pump price reduction of about 12% (RON98) since the first pump price reduction was announced on 5th July 2008.

The monthly average price of crude oil increased by about 2% from May to July 2008 and has dropped by 9% since July. Pump price rose by about 4% from May to July 2008. This just shows that the prices are moving in tandem with crude prices. Nothing more.

Channel News Asia also noted that “Professor Chou Siaw Kiang, executive director of the Energy Studies Institute, noted how the perceived “closely coordinated group” of oil companies were “discoordinated” in this round of price cuts. “Perhaps they are not in unison this time round because therapid drop in oil prices is sending a signal, and there is no time to react in a unified way,” he said.”

I am not too sure about that. My cynical mind just thinks that after so much public outroar, these petrol giants just decided to create a little excitement for the press to feast on.

I also noticed this little statement that the Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang told Parliament in April the Government has no “evidence of collusion among retail petrol companies”.

Again, the cynical mind, when working overtime thinks that if no investigation is being carried out, then of course no evidence lor. (So, was an investigation ever conducted?)

I mean, if I went to the toilet to shit, but you never go to the sewers to look for my shit, and hence, no evidence that I crapped, then does it mean that I never shit at all?

While I applaud the price drop, I remain sceptical that these petrol companies are not a “closely coordinated group”.