Boycott!!! (upated 18/6)

There is an email circulating far and wide calling all petrol-using Malaysians to:

1. Boycott Petronas stations FOREVER – because the govt is pulling their strings and setting their prices, which all the other petrol companies have to follow. The e-mail in question rationalises: “If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.”

2. Boycott all petrol stations one day a week starting Sun. July 6, 2008 [to coincide with the big anti-petrol hike rally scheduled at Padang Timur, PJ], and every Saturday thereafter. A weekly one-day nationwide boycott will inevitably result in a petrol glut, which may force petrol companies to offer lower prices to ‘clear stock’.

I’m in … how ’bout you?

Today’s Star saw Petronas bigwig Hassan Merican trembling in fear:

“Petronas Urges Public Not To Join In Email Campaign”
(Excerpts)
“Any form of boycott will only hurt the station owners, the small and medium-seized enterprises that supply the stations with their products and the shareholders of Petronas Dagangan – many of whom are pensioners,” he said in an interview.

Then the station owners and suppliers will demand a lower price or else close shop and use their money earned to get into another business. The shareholders will sell of their shares … and THEN who will suffer in the end?

Petronas was not the largest retailer of fuel in the country as it only has about 800 stations nationwide.
…
Petronas stations account for about 30% of fuel sold in the country.

30% is nearly ONE-THIRD of the ENTIRE MARKET – zat eesa muucho grande piece of ze pie, compadre…

The largest retail station owner is Shell with over 1,200 stations.

800 stations presumably makes Petronas the No.2, so let’s boycott BOTH Shell and Petronas, si?

He said Petronas as a corporation would not be unduly affected by such a boycott as Petronas Dagangan accounted for less than 5% of its revenue.

So then, why you so scared we boycott, chief? Sampai keluar paper bagi warning, ni?

Hassan also said the country had to import 80,000 barrels of petrol every day because the refineries in the country did not produce enough.

Again, telling half the story. “The country (does) not produce enough,” you say.
Can’t you come clean and also tell us how many thousand barrels of LOCAL PETROL are sold every day? And show us proof of the TOTAL number of barrels sold per day. 
But, ‘angonaminnit … ‘barrels of petrol’?? Isn’t crude oil sold by the barrel, while petrol is sold by the litre/tanker?

Trust the CIA [yes, the Central Intelligence Agency] to have the relevant facts:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/my.html

MALAYSIA:

PETRONAS ANNUAL REPORTS: CLICK HERE then click on “Company Background” (top left corner), then click on “Investor Relations”, THEN ONLY will you find the Annual Reports [yes, its reallly hidden deep inside their website].

According to an article by Anil Netto in Aliran, “Petronas Oil Profits Slip Away”:
Petronas finished bottom of a list of 15 oil corporations rated for their sustainability and ethical practices, according to a study by the Madrid ethics rating firm Management & Excellence (M&E). When a company is making record profits, it tends to mask wastage, lack of management oversight and slow technology transfer.

Check out also, Netto’s article on the same subject on his blog:
“It’s a Jungle Out There! Oil Price Hike Madness” 

 Meanwhile preliminary price hike demos have begun. Here’s a Malaysiakini.tv video of a small taste of what we can expect during the July 6 BIG ONE: