Despite the cut, oil retailers are warning Thais to continue cutting their fuel consumption, because world oil prices tend to remain high and can be extremely volatile.

"Since US crude-oil prices have increased slightly, volatility re-mains. As such, we should further cut consumption," said Manoon Siriwan, executive vice president of Bangchak Petroleum. Following the price cut, octane-95 petrol will be Bt29.79 per litre, octane-91 Bt28.99 and diesel Bt27.54.

Chaiwat Choorit, senior executive vice president of PTT Plc, attributed the retreat in Singapore's refined-oil prices to improving sentiment in the Middle East following US Secretary of State Condo-leezza Rice's visit to the region.

While Dubai crude oil fell to US$67.66 (Bt2,567) per barrel, refined petrol in Singapore stood at $84.36 per barrel and diesel at $83.69.

He noted that oil prices were descending in line with demand, while speculators have also shifted their focus to gold prices. Still, he urged Thais to save on fuel consumption while the situation remained tense from continuing conflicts in the Middle East and violence in Nigeria - two risk factors for oil prices.

"PTT, as the agency responsible for the country's energy situation, will try to minimise the negative impacts on consumers. As soon as global oil prices drop, we will immediately cut retail prices, and sometimes we have delayed price increases," he said.

So far this year, while other retailers have jacked up their retail prices, PTT has delayed price increases and shouldered a financial burden of more than Bt3 billion.

Another PTT executive noted that all oil products would now be sold at a lower price, due to a sufficiently high marketing fee.

"The diesel marketing fee is Bt1.10 to Bt1.20 per litre. Although the petrol marketing fee is only 80 satang per litre, we're averaging the marketing fees from the two oil products," said the executive.