Fuel prices to drop in Dec
dubai — Motorists across the UAE celebrated as the Ministry of Energy and Industry announced a reduction in fuel prices for the month of December.
Super 98 for the month of December was announced at Dh2.25 per litre, down from Dh2.57 in November; while Special 95 stood at Dh2.15, down from Dh2.46. In addition, E-plus 91 was priced at Dh2.05, down from Dh2.38 in November; while the price of Diesel has been fixed at Dh2.61, down from Dh2.87 per litre.
Several experts had earlier revealed that motorists could expect a massive reduction in fuel prices for the last month of the year. A seemingly relentless rise in US crude supply, together with Saudi Arabia’s insistence that it will not cut output on its own to stabilise the market, earlier sent Brent crude to a fresh 2018 low below $58 a barrel.
Opec and its allies, led by Russia, have been curbing production under a pact reached in late-2016 to prop up oil prices. Moscow agreed to curb output by 300,000 barrels per day, or one sixth of the overall cut of 1.8 million bpd, but Russian companies took several months to reach that level of reduction. Riyadh has suggested Opec and its allies reduce output by one million bpd from January 2019 to arrest a price decline as Brent crude fell from as high as $85 in October due to concerns about a possible glut.
The Russian Energy Ministry held a meeting with the heads of domestic oil producers on Tuesday, before a planned gathering between Opec and its allies in Vienna on December 6-7. Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country is the world’s second biggest oil producer, said on Wednesday that he was in touch with Opec and ready to continue cooperation on supply if needed, but he was satisfied with an oil price of $60. US crude inventories hit their highest in a year, and are now only 80 million barrels below March 2017’s record 535 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration.