THREE OF Portugal’s largest fuel providers have dropped the price of petrol and diesel at the pumps.
Petrol retailers BP, Galp and Repsol reduced their prices at midnight on Tuesday/Wednesday following falls in the price of crude oil on the international markets.
At BP garages diesel standard fell by four cents a litre to 1.378 euros and Ultimate to 1.453 euros while petrol fell three cents: Unleaded ‘95’ is now 1.478 and Ultimate 1.618 euros.
Repsol has reduced its fuel prices by three cents a litre for diesel and four cents for petrol. Diesel will cost 1.388 euros per litre and Unleaded ‘95’ 1.473 euros.
Galp lowered its prices on Tuesday by four cents in the case of petrol and three cents for diesel.
On average a litre of unleaded petrol will now cost motorists 1.47 euros and diesel 1.39 euros.
The Minister of the Economy, Manuel Pinho welcomed the move saying that it would have “a positive effect on the daily life of Portuguese families.”
“We are seeing a sustained tendency for the price of a barrel of crude oil to fall and both the economy and Portuguese families can only benefit for this,” he said.
The Minister added that it was his belief that the recent spiralling oil prices has been caused to a greater extent by “speculation”.
Speculation
“A sharp drop in petrol and diesel prices will, without doubt, have positive effects on the economy and the day-to-day lives of ordinary families, because it’s families that see the consequences of petrol price rises when filling up their cars at the pumps,” he added.
The government has repeatedly said that there was a “strong speculative component” linked to unstable oil prices internationally that had contributed towards high retail petrol prices.
One year ago a barrel of crude oil cost US$70 and shot up to an all-time high of UShttp://www.40 within months.
The President of OPEC, Chakib Khelil expressed the belief that the price of crude oil would fall back to below US$80 a barrel if the dollar continued to pick up and the diplomatic situation in Iran became more stable.
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