Malaysia hikes domestic gas prices

The Malaysian government has raised natural gas prices for the power and industrial sectors by between 123% and 187% as part of a recent revamp of the country’s fuel subsidy system, which also has involved increases in gasoline and gasoil prices of 40% and 63%, respectively. Malaysia has regulated the price of gas supplied by national oil company Petronas to the power and industrial sectors since 1997. But tariffs for the low- and medium-income groups, who use less than 200 kilowatt per hour of electricity each month, will not be affected. The government also announced on June 4 that it would abolish the Cooking Oil Stabilization Scheme, effective July 1, and implement provisions of the Windfall Profit Levy Act 1998 on palm oil producers who have benefited from rising prices for their product, Bernama reported. (June 6, 2008)