Unleaded fuel price up, diesel down for August

Enemalta today announced its fuel price revision effective as from tomorrow. The revision is seeing unleaded sold at €1.49 and diesel at €1.35.

The corporation said that its maximum retail price reflected the latest shipments of imported fuel. TFO prices will not be published for the month of August since this is not currently sold to consumers. 

The price of unleaded has shot up once again despite a substantial decrease during the month of July.

"The average unleaded Platts prices in July to date rose by 7.76% over the month of June.  In addition to the increase in the international petrol prices, the euro currency has also considerably weakened against the US dollar, making unleaded imports more costly to purchase," Enemalta said in its statement.

"This explains the €0.05 cents increase brought about in August petrol prices."

On diesel, Enemalta said the consignment was recorded end of June and as a result was based on June Platts prices.

The corporation said that this consignment was reflected in Enemalta's opening stock levels for the month of July.

"The average unleaded Platts prices in June fell by 9.83% over the month of May. This primarily explains the €0.03 cents drop brought about in August diesel prices," it said.

Enemalta also said that both petrol and diesel prices in Malta are ranked 12^th cheapest out of the other 27 European Countries, according to Oil Prices Bulletin published by the European Commission.

The corporation noted that the prices were inclusive of duties and taxes.

Enemalta also said that during July, ICE Brent crude prices rose by 6.23% over June prices. Brent crude oil prices rallied over $18.50/bbl from their June lows.

It added that the rally was primarily driven by tighter physical oil markets due to the US and European Union sanctions against Iran, which have reduced Iranian crude oil exports to as little as 1.0 million b/d recently from 2.4 million b/d in 2011, a loss equal to that from Libya last year.

Goldman Sachs recently reported that while the sanctions against Iran are tightening the crude market, the refined product markets remain quite firm, indicating that world oil demand has not been severely weakened by the slower pace of world economic growth.