[WATCH] PN insists fuel being sold under €1 as Commission publishes new data

Opposition reiterates fuel price reduction plea • Video by Ray Attard

Labour and the Nationalist Party remain at loggerheads over the price of fuel at the pump with the global in the price of oil.

Latest data from the European Commission of fuel prices with taxes, showed Malta’s price of fuel and diesel stay stable at €1.42 and €1.35 respectively, compared to the EU average of €1.21 and €1.15.

The PN is insisting that the government should publish its hedging contracts to quell doubts as to whether public company Enemed, the supplier of petroleum on the market, is claiming profits for itself on the high price of fuel following the crash in the price of oil.

Shadow energy minister Marthese Portelli has insisted that the volatile state of the oil market should have discouraged the government from entering into any long-term fuel hedging deals. “The Maltese government was the only European government that didn’t notice that the global price of oil was decreasing,” Portelli said at a press conference, where she repeated her call for the government to reduce fuel prices.

When asked by MaltaToday whether she would adopt a hedging policy for fuel if she were to become energy minister, Portelli said that she would make a decision based on the market at the time.

“I definitely wouldn’t have made the government’s mistake though,” she added. 

Revealing graphs showing how the price of oil gas long been on the decline, she said that the global oil prices have dropped to $44 per barrel, but that fuel prices in Malta have yet to reflect that plummet.

“Diesel is sold for under €1 per litre in Lithuania, Poland, Luxembourg, Estonia and Latvia,” Portelli said, citing statistics from consumer-run Energy.Eu. “Petrol is sold for under €1 in Estonia, Poland, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Latvia,” she said.

But the prices she quoted are different from the ones cited today by the European Commission in its weekly oil bulletin.

In a statement, the Labour Party said that the EC’s latest oil bullettin showed eight and seven EU countries that had, respectively, raised petrol and diesel prices.

“There’s no EU country paying the price of 97c for petrol and 94c for diesel, as the PN is expecting that Maltese consumers should be paying. This would be a difference of 30% and 26% for petrol and diesel respectively, from the average price being paid by the rest of the EU,” the PL said.

The PL said that only Bulgaria had fuel prices below the €1 mark contrary to PN claims that Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also had prices below €1.

“These basic mistakes betray the PN’s amateurism and their lack of credibility. This is the same party under whose watch, oil procurement was the source of the greatest ever political scandal. Labour has in the past two years reduced energy and water bills, and the price of petrol and diesel four and six times, respectively.”

Last week, the Opposition submitted a parliamentary motion demanding the reduction of fuel prices so as to reflect the global price of oil. Portelli questioned why no date has yet been set for the motion to be debated in Parliament.

“Fuel prices are as they were back in 2011, when the price of oil was double that what it is now,” Portelli said. “Back in 2009, when the price of oil was similar to today’s price, diesel and petrol cost 94c and 97c per litre respectively.”

“The high fuel prices are harming car users, parents, farmers, fishers, technicians, businesses and industries. Social partners have also raised their concerns.”

She also insisted that Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi answer a parliamentary question dating back to 2013 on who consulted the government to hedge fuel.