SINGAPORE Petroleum Co, Shell and ExxonMobil have raised pump prices by five cents a litre, matching Caltex's move a day earlier.

With the all-round hike on Tuesday, the costliest petrol is Shell V-Power, which retails at $2.147 a litre before discount, while the least expensive remains the 92-octane grade sold by everyone except Caltex. It retails at $1.853 a litre.

All the fuels are now at record levels, but diesel has chalked the biggest increase in recent years. It is now $1.403 a litre, more than double its rate just four years ago. In fact, this commercial fuel will now cost as much as petrol if it attracted the same 41-44 cent a litre duty which applies to petrol.

Fuel consultant Ong Eng Tong attributes the sharp rise in diesel price to the growing European appetite for diesel-powered cars. More than half of new cars sold in Europe today are diesel models. If the price of diesel continues to escalate at this rate, its attractiveness to motorists the world over as an alternative to petrol will diminish. Already, the latest diesel-powered cars are 10-20 per cent costlier to buy than their petrol counterparts.

In the latest price adjustment here, Shell has apparently followed the example set by ExxonMobil recently. The two are no longer announcing price changes to the media. A Shell spokesman denied that her company is following Exxon's footsteps, saying that its prices are available on its website as well as price signs outside stations - unlike Exxon.

However, she was unable to say why Shell is not communicating changes to the press. Its decision came soon after 7-Eleven took over the retail operations of its refuelling network here last month. Likewise, Exxon stopped announcing price changes soon after NTUC FairPrice took over its network.