Nothing beats the kind of savings you get from pumping petrol across the causeway. But having these credit cards at hand should come close to the feeling.
Best Credit Cards For Petrol In Singapore On SingSaver
- Best For Caltex: OCBC 365 Card
- Best For Esso: DBS Esso Card
- Best For Shell: UOB One Card
- Best For SPC: POSB Everyday Card | UOB One Card
- Best For Sinopec: OCBC 365 Card | OCBC Frank Card
Owning a car in Singapore is already expensive. Your bank balance will thank you if you can keep the maintenance down, with petrol being one of the biggest culprits.
Depending on how often you ply the roads, your monthly spend on petrol would look anywhere between S$150 and S$200, given the average mileage clocked by Singaporeans and the average petrol price per litre. Of course, we’d be looking at a much higher range if you happen to be a private hire driver.
Following Putin's invasion of Ukraine, many harsh sanctions have been imposed and further potential embargoes are also in the works.
In response, Brent benchmarks have risen substantially from US$98 per barrel last week (17 Mar) to US$117 per barrel this week (23 Mar). As a result, this impacted recent oil and petrol prices to surge above S$3 for the first time this year.
With Russia as one of the biggest global producers and exporters of oil, this conflict has undoubtedly seeded as much economic uncertainty in the fuel industry as it did in political unrest.
Nevertheless, it's important that we continue to save wherever we can on petrol expenses. Thus, we've gathered Singapore’s best petrol credit cards to enjoy great fuel discounts and save money for other joys in life.
Last updated as of 7 March 2023. Volatility of petrol prices apply and validity of credit card promotions are subject to change at the bank's discretion without prior notice.
Overview: Best Petrol Credit Cards in Singapore 2023
Click to jump to:
| Petrol station | Best credit card | Total benefits |
| Caltex | OCBC 365 Card | Up to 22.1% |
| Esso | DBS Esso Card | Up to 21.2% |
| Shell | UOB One Card | Up to 21.15% |
| SPC | POSB Everyday or UOB One Card | Up to 24% |
| Sinopec | OCBC 365 or OCBC Frank | Up to 27% or 29% savings |
Best for petrol at Caltex: OCBC 365
The OCBC 365 credit card packs a punch when it comes to being an everyday cashback card, rewarding you attractively per category spend.
Cardholders earn a modest 5% cashback on fuel spend at all petrol service stations locally. Yet, the biggest draw is fuel savings of up to 22.1% at Caltex, comprising 18% off on fuel at Caltex and cashback depending on how much you spend. Besides Caltex, you also enjoy up to 20.2% savings at Esso stations.
OCBC 365 is known for its 6% cashback on dining (that includes online food delivery), so drive out to your favourite foodie pitstops and make full use of it. You also earn 3% cash rebate on groceries shopping.
The qualifying monthly spend is S$800 with a cashback cap of S$80 per month across all categories combined. If you tend to spend more than S$800, you may want to consider charging your bills to another card once you’ve hit the cashback cap.
Loyalty Programme: CaltexGO
Download the CaltexGO app to simultaneously earn loyalty points and seamlessly pay for your petrol without needing your wallet.
MEMBER PROMOTION: Those who are new to both OCBC debit/credit cards and CaltexGO are entitled to 25% off their first CaltexGO payment using an OCBC credit card. No min. spending required.
Summary
- Min. monthly spend: S$800
- 5% cashback on NETT fuel spend
- Up to 22.1% on Techron fuel spend (18% off) on at Caltex + 20.2% fuel savings at Esso
- 6% cashback on dining
- 3% cashback on physical and online groceries
- Cashback capped at S$80 monthly
Read our review of the OCBC 365 card here.
Best for petrol at Esso: DBS Esso
If you’re looking for a no-frills card with the highest cashback rate for petrol, look no further than the DBS Esso Card.
The card offers 18% instant fuel discount and additional savings depending on the seasonal promotion. You could be looking at a total of 21.2% (~S$46.51), and that’s excluding the earned Smiles points (2.4%) you can redeem to offset the fuel purchase.
When you sign up for the card and use it, you’ll automatically be enrolled into the Esso loyalty program. Drivers, you’ll surely be smiling ear to ear when you know that it gets you 0% interest-free motor insurance and road tax instalment plans — those are just a couple of the benefits.
The downside? The card is really only for drivers who pump exclusively at Esso. Otherwise, it really is a one-trick pony.
Loyalty Programme: Esso Smiles Driver Rewards
As part of the Esso Smiles Driver Rewards programme, drivers can earn one Smile Point for every litre of Synergy fuel purchased at an Esso station. Additionally, they can instantly redeem S$10 on fuel with as low as 300 Smiles Points and S$30 on fuel with as low as 750 Smiles Points earned.
MEMBER PROMOTION: New DBS Esso cardholders can score up to S$120 on fuel savings before 31 March 2022. How? Spend at least S$180 NETT on fuel per month at any Esso kiosk for three months from the card's approval date.
If that's not possible, spend at least S$180 NETT on fuel per month for two months out of three and still earn S$50 on fuel savings.
Summary
- Up to 21.2% fuel savings + 2.4% Smiles savings
- 0% interest-free motor insurance + road tax instalment plans
- Up to S$120 NETT fuel savings for new DBS Esso cardholders
- Up to S$10 on instant fuel redemption using Smiles Points
Best for petrol at Shell: UOB One Card
The UOB One Card would be best for topping up petrol at Shell. With petrol being one of the main expenses for those who drive, you could potentially enjoy up to 21.15% savings each time you make a trip to Shell.
This 21.15% fuel savings comprise a 17% instant discount and up to 5% cashback.
The latter 17% upfront discount consists of a 5% Shell station discount, 5% Shell Escape discount and 7% UOB One Card instant discount (from the CVP change).
But take note of a few terms and conditions and minimum spend tiers. To get the full 5% rebate (S$300), UOB One cardholders need to spend at least S$2,000 per month (min. five purchases) for three months straight in a yearly quarter.
This means that you can't spend a bomb on one single transaction but five separate payments instead! If you only spend between S$1,000 and S$1,999, it drops to S$100, and S$50 if you spend S$500 to S$999.
Loyalty Programme: Shell Escape
Pick up a Shell Escape Card and register to become a member in order to earn up to 100 points online. The more you refuel, the more points accumulated. You can then redeem these points for rewards like S$10 NEX vouchers and S$20 TANGS gift cards.
Read our review of the UOB One card here.
Best for petrol at SPC: POSB Everyday Card
If you’re looking for an all-in-one card to save money on your car’s fuel maintenance and double as a daily essentials spender, POSB Everyday credit card is the card to have 365 days a year.
You’ll enjoy up to 20.1% fuel savings at SPC with no minimum spend, which is made up of 10% SPC&U member discount, 5% DBS/POSB discount and a 6% POSB Everyday card exclusive cash rebate (charged on final amount). On top of all that, you can still get an extra 2% cash rebate (capped at S$15) when you spend a minimum of S$800 monthly.
This additional rebate brings the total savings tally up to 22.1%. All these extraordinary fuel savings are valid till 31 March 2023, so don't miss out on this stellar promo!
Speaking of cash rebates, the savings party continues with 5% on Sheng Siong groceries, 3% at Watsons, and 1% on utilities and StarHub bills.
See what we mean when we say it doubles as your daily essentials card?
Best for petrol at Sinopec: OCBC 365 or OCBC Frank
 |
 |
Once again, the OCBC credit cards shine brightest at Sinopec in general with amazing fuel savings of up to 27%. Although Sinopec only offers three kiosks in Singapore currently, they're constantly running limited-timed promotions, tacked on with further discounts for OCBC cardholders.
For starters, all OCBC credit cards already enjoy a standard petrol discount of 23% discount (at Bukit Timah) and 20% (at Yishun and Woodlands). Moreover, OCBC 365 receives additional 5% cashback on NETT fuel spend (min. S$800 monthly spend) whereas OCBC Frank receives additional 6% cashback on contactless payment (using smartphone or watch, min. S$600 monthly spend).
Note: The extra 5% cashback on NETT fuel spend is after discount. Thus, before discount, this 5% is equivalent to 3.8% or 4% savings. Cashback capped at S$80 per month.
Loyalty Programme: Sinopec X Rewards
Sign up for Sinopec's loyalty programme, X Rewards, at any kiosk to gain access to their Sinopec X Card. Use it to pump petrol at Sinopec to earn 1.5 X points per litre of Sino X Power petrol, and 1 X points per litre of other petrol.
Accumulating a total of 90 X points rewards members with a S$3 discount, which is around 1.3% fuel savings, subject to Sino Power 95 petrol price fluctuations.
No doubt, these X Rewards can be stacked on top of your OCBC credit card discounts to really maximise your fuel savings. It'll be remiss of you not to take advantage of these (essentially) discounted petrol life hacks.
Summary
|
Fuel savings
|
OCBC 365 Card
|
Other OCBC cards
|
|
Instant fuel discount
|
16% off fuel:
- 5% Esso service station discount
- 5% Esso Smiles Card discount
- 6% discount for OCBC 365 card
|
14% off fuel
|
|
Additional rebate after discount
|
5% rebate with min. S$800 monthly spend
|
–
|
|
Total fuel savings
|
20.2%
|
14%
|
|
Esso Smiles Points
|
Up to 2.3% Smiles savings
|
|
|
1.5 X points per Sino X Power petrol
1 X point per other petrol
|
||
T&Cs apply.
Honourable mentions
OCBC Voyage — Caltex
Enjoy a 19% instant discount for Platinum 98, Premium 95 or Regular 92 with Techron and Caltex Diesel with Techron Caltex Diesel at all kiosks. No minimum spending required.
Meanwhile, let your spending work towards luxurious travel perks as you also earn 1.3 VOYAGE Miles (1 KrisFlyer Mile) for every local dollar spent.
Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Credit Card — Caltex (Platinum 98)
From now till 30 June 2022, earn up to 21.3% effective savings comprising a 17% upfront discount for all fuels along with a 1.5% cashback. On top of that, cardholders will also receive S$3 rebate for every S$80 spent.
Keen to earn all these rewards with your Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback card? Be sure to be an existing CaltexGO member too, and you'll be all set.
Citi Cash Back Card — Esso & Shell
Want to earn up to 20.88% fuel savings at Esso and Shell? Compared to the mere 14% savings on other Citi credit cards, flash your Citi Cash Back Card card at the kiosk cashier counters and enjoy:
- 5% Esso or Shell station discount
- 5% Esso Smiles or Shell Escape discount
- 4% Citi Card discount*
- 8% cashback (after discounts)
The 8% post-discount cashback does not apply for regular holders of Citi credit cards, only for Citi Cash Back Card.
With these whopping savings stacked one after another across Esso and Shell, it's not hard to see why the Citi Cash Back Card is a great card for drivers that patronise both these kiosk brands.
*The 4% Citi Card discount will not be reflected automatically for payments made using mobile or e-wallets.
AMEX True Cashback Card — SPC
Don't restrict on the luxuries in life with American Exchange True Cashback Card's simple philosophy for cash rebates. With no category specifications, no minimum spend, nor earn cap tagged on their cashback, you can spend away to your heart's content.
Apart from the 5% card discount, you can also stack on a 10% SPC&U discount and a 7.1% card rebate on NETT petrol spending. This puts your total effective discount at 21% fuel savings at SPC!
Moreover, AMEX is currently running a welcome bonus for new cardholders to enjoy 3% cashback for the first six months, up to S$5,000 min. spend. Following that, continue to benefit from a decent 1.5% immediate cashback across all eligible purchases.
Maybank World Mastercard — Sinopec
If you're a miles chaser, you'd know that you could use any credit card specialised for contactless payments to earn 4 miles per dollar at petrol stations.
However, the Maybank World Mastercard takes this one step further by granting both 4 miles per dollar and discounts on petrol.
With regards to the petrol discounts, you stand to receive up to 19.1% off via the Maybank World Mastercard's complimentary Corporate Fuel Card. Tack that on to the 20+% instant discount promotions that Sinopec frequently runs across its three petrol stations and you have yourself a winner.
Apart from petrol, earn 4 miles per dollar when you dine at Paradise Group, Imperial Treasure, Les Amis Group, and Resorts World Sentosa merchants or for retail, Club21 merchants and all The Shilla Duty-Free stores at Changi Airport welcome you too.
Which petrol credit card is best for you?
The credit card that'll work best for you depends on your preferred grade of petrol and the availability of petrol kiosks. For instance, if you commute daily to and fro work, knowing which petrol kiosk is en route to work is beneficial for efficient refuelling whenever needed.
Read these next:
5 Best Car Insurance Plans in Singapore (2023)
How Much Does It Truly Cost to Maintain a Car in Singapore?
Buying an Electric Car in Singapore: A Complete Guide
Best Grocery Credit Cards in Singapore (2023)
Best Cashback Credit Cards In Singapore (2023)
Best CIMB Credit Cards in Singapore (2023)
Best Standard Chartered Credit Cards in Singapore (2023)
Best HSBC Credit Cards in Singapore (2023)
Back to Blog 
