Hong Kong consumers have the dubious distinction of paying higher prices for petrol and other such products than practically anyone else in the world; therefore, they have every reason to take a close interest in a recent and unusual global initiative to lower oil prices.
On June 23, the members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) finally agreed to dip into their strategic reserves and release as much as two million barrels per day to stem oil price rises spurred by the war in Libya.
This has occurred only three times since 1974 and immediately brought the benchmark Brent crude oil price down 8 per cent in the futures market.
By any standards, oil prices are high, having crossed the psychologically important barrier of US$100 per barrel in May and stubbornly remaining around that level.
Oil prices are most visible at the petrol pump and, for those living without piped gas supplies, when deliveries of liquefied petroleum gas are made. Most consumers assume that prices move only one way - up - even when crude oil prices ease, as is happening now.
This is especially so in Hong Kong, where an oligopoly controls all forms of oil supply and helps explain why prices are more than double those in the United States.