Control on Sale of Fuel in Sarawak

KUCHING: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry has with immediate effect put in place stringent controls on the sale of diesel and petrol in Sarawak to curb smuggling.

Among the steps taken were to limit the sale of diesel and petrol from pump to tank at petrol stations to 158 litres and 250 litres, respectively.

Oil drum purchases are strictly prohibited at all petrol stations.

The sale of diesel and petrol to longhouses, clinics, schools and government agencies will be limited to 20 litres per person.

As building contractors usually fill up oil drums at petrol stations, they will also be affected and will have to purchase supplies from wholesalers.

State director Rodin Mamat said the move to limit the sale of diesel and petrol was to overcome shortages, reported between April 29 and May 4, in several parts of the state.

“These shortages also occurred in 13 rural mini stations in the state, which is our yardstick in showing that someone or some syndicate is smuggling diesel and petrol out of Sarawak,” he said yesterday.

Rodin added that the ministry had alerted all petrol kiosks to monitor credit card sales.

“Petrol kiosks will hit the emergency stop button at the petrol pump should the limit be exceeded,” he said.

With crude oil prices above US$135 (RM472) per barrel, the measures were considered necessary.

Due to the rise, the ministry launched a statewide operation earlier this month and has seized 25,607 litres of subsidised diesel worth RM152,865 which were about to sold on the black market.

Most of the subsidised diesel sold on the black market is believed to end up in plantations and logging camps in Sarawak.

Yesterday, a biscuit company was found to have 2,000 litres of subsidised diesel in its factory store during a check.

The factory spokesperson, who wanted to be known only as Ong, claimed the company had purchased the diesel from its regular supplier and did not know that the fuel was subsidised diesel.

“We buy our diesel at RM3.40 per litre and we normally order 11,000 litres three times a month.

“We have all the paperwork to support this. We are just the end user and it is not our duty to investigate where the diesel comes from.

“All we are bothered about is that we have enough supply to make our ovens work for our daily operations,” he said.

Rodin said the department was investigating the possibility that some suppliers were selling subsidised diesel at market prices to industrial plants in the state.

(c) 2008 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.