Pump charges fall for first time in nearly 3 weeks as Shell drops petrol price by 5 cents

For the first time in nearly three weeks, pump prices in Singapore have fallen, with Shell becoming the first company here to drop its posted prices for petrol on Wednesday (March 25).In a price board update published at 4pm, Shell announced a 5-cent drop in its posted price for 95-, 98-octane and the more premium V-Power.Shell held its posted price for diesel, which was raised by 20 cents on Tuesday, unchanged at $3.93.Oil prices on Wednesday fell, with the Brent benchmark falling below US$100 at the time of this article's publication, amid reassurances from Iran that "non-hostile vessels" may transit the Strait of Hormuz if they coordinate with its authorities.On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump walked back on threats to bomb Iran's power grid, claiming the US and Iran have held "very good and productive" conversations. It later rebounded as the fragile relief soured with Iran denying that it had engaged in negotiations with the US.Why diesel prices are rising faster than petrolDiesel began to get more expensive than 95-octane petrol on March 12, nearly two weeks after the US and Israel first struck Iran on Feb 28.That day, both Caltex and Esso raised their respective diesel price by 10 cents — to $3.38, while their respective posted price for the more popular 95-octane petrol was $3.35.Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser at Gulf Oil, said recently that diesel prices are rising faster than petrol prices, partly because diesel was scarce before the war."The world was well supplied with petrol on Feb 28, but it was not well-supplied on these middle distillates like diesel, gasoil, marine fuel, and jet fuel."He added that price for diesel fuel tends to go up faster than petrol whenever oil prices rise, partly due to the increased demand from China, India and Europe."I would expect that diesel will be the product that reflects worldwide supply and worries as we move through this difficult period," he said.editor@asiaone.com