Something was really strange in recent weeks when all of a sudden, the whole province ran out of petrol and got the prices soaring like crazy. What originally for Octane 97, was RMB 4.60 (about SGD 0.94) 2 weeks ago, shot up to RMB 6.00 (about SGD 1.23) per litre. Granted that it is still cheaper than Singapore and UK, the percentage increase of 30% in a matter of two weeks. What really got everybody scrambling was the fact that at many pumps, you can't even get petrol even if you have all the money in the world.I have drivers waking up 5 so that he could drive the truck to the pump and start queuing for petrol. Another driver who woke up late, reach the petrol pump at 8am only to be stuck until 11am to finally reach the pump. It is really really bad.
So was there really an oil crisis? Apparently the word around the grapevine is that there was some conspiracy in cutting off the supply of the petrol as the situation in the other province didn't have this problem. Rumour says that the top echelons of the provincial gahmen have a hand in this profiteering racket.
Anyway, the latest update was that the Central gahmen has gotten wind of this and probably will be clamping down on this really hard. Let's hope not of these greedy bastards get away with it.
Mad scrambling for petrol is causing lots of hardship for everybody especially the taxi drivers, delivery vans, bus drivers, everybody. WTF???!!
Empty dried up petrol stations all over the place are a common sight these days. Nah Beh......
- Voxeros
1. Lynne left...
Wednesday, 17 August 2005 2:12 am
Hey, Guang Dong oso got Texaco! Are Guang Dong drivers very "hiong"? I visited Shanghai last year, and was scared shitless by the driving there!
2. Jaywlk left...
It makes me wonder if it is really Caltex or is it just a phony copy? Hmm......
Driving here is crazy which is why I hired a chauffeur despite having a Ch1nese driver's license myself. When kena accident, the foreigner is always at the short end of the stick and so I was thinking of letting the driver assuming that part of the risk.
Wednesday, 17 August 2005 7:38 am ::
Lynne: Yeah, they have Texaco/Caltex as well as Shell and Mobil but only like 1 of them versus 500 of the SinoPecs out there.It makes me wonder if it is really Caltex or is it just a phony copy? Hmm......
Driving here is crazy which is why I hired a chauffeur despite having a Ch1nese driver's license myself. When kena accident, the foreigner is always at the short end of the stick and so I was thinking of letting the driver assuming that part of the risk.
3. Meepok left...
I smell a fish here. There is definitely a conspiracy. At least the Cheena gahmen may do something about it. In Singapore, there has been petrol price fixing amongst the oil companies for as long as I can remember. Gahmen is doing what it does best in these situations: Act Blur. Petrol taxes contribute significantly to state coffers (like ERP). Hence I don't think they'll want to rock the boat by breaking the oligopoly. Maybe this should become an election issue:-)
Wednesday, 17 August 2005 8:30 am
Bro Jay, I smell a fish here. There is definitely a conspiracy. At least the Cheena gahmen may do something about it. In Singapore, there has been petrol price fixing amongst the oil companies for as long as I can remember. Gahmen is doing what it does best in these situations: Act Blur. Petrol taxes contribute significantly to state coffers (like ERP). Hence I don't think they'll want to rock the boat by breaking the oligopoly. Maybe this should become an election issue:-)
4. JayWalk left...
MeePok: I can't say for sure (or even if I am sure).
But I heard supply will be back to normal as the alleged guilty parties gave the lame ass excuse that it was the typhoon that disrupted the supply.
Riiiight.......
MeePok: I can't say for sure (or even if I am sure).
But I heard supply will be back to normal as the alleged guilty parties gave the lame ass excuse that it was the typhoon that disrupted the supply.
Riiiight.......
5. jaschocolate left...
Wednesday, 17 August 2005 7:50 pm
Haha.. then ur chauffeur got wake up early to queue too?
6. lancerlord left...
Good for those manning the petrol stations, can cho bo. :)
Wednesday, 17 August 2005 10:14 pm :: http://lancerlord.blogspot.com
Fwah. Petrol suck until dry dry. Good for those manning the petrol stations, can cho bo. :)
7. akk left...
Wednesday, 17 August 2005 11:55 pm
hmmmm....i bet this only happens in China, cos got too many ppl and too many cars....
8. JayWalk left...
Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:01 am ::
jaschocolate: Not as often as we used relatively less petrol as compared to the taxi drivers and delivery vans.
lancerlord: I think the workers' wages are tied to the volume of sales and I guess indirectly they are also affected. Or worse kena retrench until supply comes back to normal.
akk: This only happens in Ch1na as this place really boh cheng hoo.
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