The Malta Automobile Club welcomes the introduction of the premium unleaded grade of petrol (RON98) in the local market.

But why did it take the government 40 years to introduce such a grade of petrol if this were really needed for certain types of cars?

Some studies claim thatpremium unleaded petrol does not really make a differencein the performance of certain vehicles, in their mileage or engine cleanliness.

There are not many vehicles in Malta that have a performance better than that of a BMW 330i, for which the owner’s manual recommends premium unleaded equivalent to RON95.

This means very few vehicles in Malta really need RON98. It is recommended that car owners and drivers check the owner’s manual to see whether they need to switch to a higher octane or not.

Last October, the State-owned Enemed Company Limited issued a call for tenders for unleaded petrol – both RON95 and RON98 – for January-June. Going on the tonnage called for, only 6.28% of the total amount of petrol needs to be RON98 – enough to supply five service stations out of the current 80!

If it is true that Enemed intends to sell the premium unleaded petrol (RON98) at 15 cents more per litre than regular unleaded petrol, then it will be charging 300 per cent more than in other countries.

Any increase higher than 5c is highway robbery. In Cyprus last weekend, regular unleaded Agip petrol (RON95) was €1.129 per litre, while Agip RON98 petrol was €1.178, a difference of 4.9c! Esso had a similar mark-up.

If Enemed was not capable of procuring premium unleaded petrol at such competitive rates, possibly due to the small amount it sought, then it should leave the importation, storage and wholesale of petrol and diesel in the hands of the local representatives of foreign oil companies.