The retail prices of regular-grade petrol and diesel respectively decreased by about 2.11 per cent and 2.91 per cent on August 11, according to a notice issued by the Ministry of Commerce.

For the August 11-20 period, the retail selling prices of fuel in the Kingdom have been set at 4,650 riel or $1.13 per litre of regular EA92 (petrol with an octane rating of at least 92) and 5,000 riel or $1.21 per litre of 50ppm diesel (with sulphur content no more than 50 parts per million), said the notice, which contains values in both currencies.

The corresponding rates for August 1-10 were 4,750 riel ($1.16) and 5,150 riel ($1.26) per litre of regular EA92 and diesel, respectively, up from 4,100 riel ($1.00) and 3,750 riel ($0.92) during the period ended December 31, 2021.

Compulsory for licensed filling stations – although usually not strictly enforced for street vendors, the rates are issued every first, 11th and 21st of the month, calculated using data extrapolated from fluctuations in crude prices on the international market, and a number of taxes and charges that may be adjusted based on feedback from meetings with local oil importers and other stakeholders.

The ministry notice shows that the current semi-monthly regular EA92 rate was computed by adding the $0.6662 average Means of Platts Singapore (MOPS) over August 1-10, $0.1716 in taxes and associated charges ($0.0847 in customs duty, $0.0200 in additional fees and $0.0669 in special fees) and $0.20 premium – summing up to about $1.038 – plus an extra 10 per cent surcharge on top of that and a one US cent discount from “the oil companies” for a total of $1.1316 which was then converted and adjusted to the final values.

Similarly, the diesel rate was formulated from a $0.8233 mean MOPS (over the same seven working days), $0.0595 in taxes and associated charges ($0.0000 in customs duty, $0.0400 in additional fees and $0.0195 in special fees) and $0.23 premium – tallying up to around $1.113 – with a 10 per cent fuel surcharge and one US cent discount from the unnamed firms for a sum of $1.2141, which was then converted and rounded to the current values.

The MOPS prices for petrol and diesel were 4.25 and 5.02 per cent lower than the mean computed over the seven working days from July 21-29, at $0.6958 and $0.8668, respectively.

And as has been customary since May 21, the notice mentioned that the two current per-litre rates include a 6.5 US cent reduction greenlit by Prime Minister Hun Sen “to ease the people’s livelihoods”.