'Fuel cost should reflect low global oil market price' - PN

The Nationalist Party has reiterated its call on the government to reduce fuel prices, arguing that they do not reflect the global market price of oil.

Brent crude slipped to below $50 a barrel on Monday due to acceleerated production from Opec countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq and Iran’s recent announcement that it will raise production as soon as sanctions linked to its nuclear programme are removed.

“Although oil hasn’t been this cheap on the market for several years, the Maltese people are yet to benefit from it through a substantial reduction in fuel prices,” shadow energy minister Marthese Portelli said in a statement. “When Brent crude had cost $130 a barrel, unleaded petrol had cost €1.38 per litre while diesel had cost €1.31. Now that Brent crude has plummeted to under $50 a barrel, petrol costs €1.35 per litre and diesel costs €1.26.

“This confirms that the government is blatantly robbing from the public [by keeping fuel prices high] and that the recent reduction in gas prices was completely superficial.”

Brent cost over $100 a barrel in July 2014, but slipped to almost $45 in January, before rebounding to $69 in May.

However, when contacted by MaltaToday, Portelli said that commodity market experts had been predicting this latest decline but had missed their forecast by a month.

She argued that the government should not have entered a long-term fuel hedging agreement while Brent was on its slippery slope and reiterated her call on the government to publish its fuel hedging contracts.