Abu Dhabi: Fuel prices in the UAE have gone up for the fourth month in a row with petrol to be costlier by more than one per cent and diesel by about 4.51 per cent for July, the Ministry of Energy announced on Tuesday.
The new per-litre fuel prices are: Super 98 — Dh1.88, up from Dh1.86 in June; Special 95 — Dh1.77, increased from Dh1.75; E Plus 91 — Dh1.70, up from Dh1.68.
Diesel price will go up from Dh1.77 per litre in June to Dh1.85 in July.
It is not clear why fuel prices went up in the UAE even though the oil is trading slightly lesser when compared to last month after British voters decided to leave the European Union. No one was available from the Ministry of Energy to comment.
Ole Hansen, head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, predicted oil to remain between $45 and the low $50s over the coming months.
“Given the uncertainty triggered by the Brexit vote and the potential for further dollar strength, we view the risk as being skewed to the downside and continue to see limited upside above $50 during this quarter,” he told Gulf News.
Brent, the international benchmark for crude, was priced at $48.31 per barrel at 3.01pm UAE time.
In a landmark decision in July last year, the Ministry of Energy liberalised fuel prices and a new pricing policy linked to global prices was implemented.
A fuel price committee headed by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy was constituted to determine the fuel prices every month.
Other members of the committee include officials from the distribution companies and the Ministry of Finance.
The prices are based on the average global prices for diesel and petrol with the addition of operating costs and profit margins of the distributing companies.
Fuel prices in the UAE had been going up as global oil prices recovered in the last few months. From less than $30 per barrel in January, oil prices moved to around $50 per barrel in recent times due to supply disruptions and global increase in demand.
