Unleaded up by 2c, gas cylinders' price down

Liquigas Malta Limited announced price reductions for its LPG cylinders. The new prices effective until Wednesday 30th April 2014 will see a 12kg Cylinder sold at €18.40 while a 15kg Cylinder now costs €23, a reduction of 80c and €1 respectively.

Distributors of Liquigas cylinders are not authorised to charge additional prices over and above these prices. 

Enemalta also announced the following revisions in fuel prices effective 1st April 2014:         

The above ‘Maximum Retail Price’ reflects the prices fetched by Enemalta for the latest shipments of imported fuel and the prices locked for the period April 2014 until June 2014.

LPG importers and market leaders Liquigas also announced reductions on their 12kg and 15kg cylinders, going down to €18.40 and €23 respectively. The new Liquigas LPG prices are valid up until 30 April.

The latest diesel consignment is based on March Platts average prices, whereas the last delivered unleaded consignment was based on February Platts average prices. Further to the latest consignments, the revised petrol and diesel prices largely reflect the hedges entered into for the period Q2_2014 whereby petrol and diesel prices were locked for the estimated deliveries between April and June 2014.

The dollar requirements for the petrol and diesel purchases for the period covering April 2014 until June 2014 were also locked. 

The above price revisions will apply for a period of three months starting April 2014.

During the first quarter of 2014 ICE Brent crude prices averaged $108 per barrel over concern on possible Western sanctions on Russia’s energy sector that could disrupt global supplies.

But the US economy also grew slightly faster than estimated in the fourth quarter, and new claims for jobless aid fell to a near four-month low last week, suggesting a brighter outlook for demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer.

Oil prices continued to draw support from the Ukraine crisis, with the United States and the European Union agreeing to work together to prepare tougher economic sanctions in response to Russia;s actions in Ukraine and to make Europe less dependent on Russian gas.

Other supply worries in Libya also underpinned prices. Libya’s exports have been well below its capacity of around 1.25 million barrels per day since July 2013 when militias and protesters began blocking its major oil export terminals and oilfields.

According to the latest Oil Prices Bulletin published by the European Commission, as at 24 March 2014, petrol and diesel prices in Malta ranked 15th and 19th respectively out of the other 28 European Countries. The EU weighted averages for petrol and diesel are €1.518/ltr and €1.396/ltr respectively. During the first quarter of 2014 the euro averaged $1.37 against the dollar.

In March the euro fell to a three-week low against the dollar after reaching a high of $1.3967 during the same month, with investors mindful of strong rhetoric from European Central Bank officials about its recent strength and awaiting German inflation data that could undermine it further.  Lightly soft Spanish inflation numbers also put pressure on the euro. The euro has sagged since suggestions of more ECB action this week from Germany - whose policymakers have in the past repeatedly voiced concerns about unorthodox monetary easing.