PN: 'Fuel costs should reflect falling oil prices'

The Nationalist Party has reiterated its call to the government to slash fuel prices so as to reflect the current market price of oil, which dropped to an 11-year low earlier this week.

“Maltese consumers are paying the fourth and ninth prices in Europe for diesel and petrol respectively,” shadow energy minister Marthese Portelli said in a statement. “Diesel and petrol costs in Malta are both higher than the European average.”

She noted that diesel in Malta currently costs €1.22 per litre, despite it costing under €1 in nine European countries.

Petrol in Malta costs €1.32 per litre compared – 35c more expensive than in Poland, where petrol is cheapest.

Brent crude slumped to $33.55 a barrel on Friday, down by 10% from last week.

Global oil prices had been fairly stables at around $110 a barrel between 2010 and mid-2014. However, since then prices have plunged significantly, driven by weak demand due to poor economic growth, coupled with surging production.
Iranian oil exports are also expected to rise later this year when Western sanctions against Tehran for its nuclear programme are lifted, increasing the oil glut.

“Everybody should benefit from the low global price of oil, but [Prime Minister] Joseph Muscat has chosen to keep fuel prices high,” Portelli said. “Maltese households and businesses are forking out money for the government’s corruption through high fuel prices. This is nothing more than blatant daylight robbery.”