PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – The Ministry of Commerce has postponed announcing how far gas retail prices will fall, citing a lack of information on pricing from gasoline companies, Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol said after meeting with representatives of eight gas companies yesterday.
Mr. Chanthol told reporters after the hour-long meeting that the companies had been asked to submit the price they paid for petroleum, the cost of operation, price of transport and the retail price by noon today. The ministry will then study the prices and costs and give gas companies a range for setting retail prices.
“We are trying to find a [pricing] formula for selling gasoline in the market because before we did not have a precise formula to implement,” Mr. Sun Chanthol said. “This is why we asked [gas companies] to give us the original price, and transportation and operation costs at each station... to compare the prices with neighboring countries,” he added.
Representative from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Mines and Energy also attended yesterday’s meeting. Officials from all three ministries will work together to set a retail price range for gas by Monday, Mr. Chanthol said. It will then hold talks with representatives of gas companies on Tuesday to finalize the formula, he added.
“We don’t know how much the price of gasoline will fall because we have no expense and operational costs on hand. We have only the buying price and tax rate. We have to wait for the private sector to give us [the remaining] data,” the minister added.
All gas companies will have to follow the pricing formula when it is approved by all parties, Mr. Chanthol said, adding that any company that failed to follow the formula would face punishment. Houng Sunhin, station section manager of PTT, which has one of the largest chains of gas stations in Cambodia, told Khmer Times that it supports the creation of a mechanism by the government to reduce gas prices here.
Mr. Sunhin said how far PTT reduces prices here would depend on the company’s board. “We cannot say now,” he said.
Yesterday’s meeting on reducing the price of gasoline in Cambodia follows an order from Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday for relevant ministries to take measures to reduce the retail price of gas. He said that gas prices remained high in Cambodia even though the cost of oil was falling in the global market.Economist Srey Chanthy said lower gas prices would cut production, processing and transport costs, among others. This would spur economic activity and also reduce the cost of exports, Mr. Chanthy said.
“A quick gas supply or value chain study is perhaps needed in order to identify the segments that have the most costs and find solutions as to how to cut them,” Mr. Chanthy said. “Since gas is the blood of the economy – and the private sector is not willing to reduce prices in accordance with international market conditions – the government may consider putting in place and enforcing a legal framework that regulates the domestic gas market in compliance with the spirit of the Constitution,” he added.
Commerce Ministry officials said representatives from eight gasoline companies attended yesterday’s meeting. The companies are: Savemex, Sokimex, Caltex, Total Combodge, LHR, PTT, Cambodia Tela and BVM, officials said.
Cambodia consumed about 1.7 million tons of oil last year, According to a report from the Ministry of Mines and Energy this is set to increase to 5 million tons in 2035.
In the first six months of this year, Cambodia imported about 920,488 tons of oil from Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, down 0.2 per cent from the same period last year, according to the Commerce Ministry.