UAE petrol and diesel prices to rise in September

Motorists in the Emirates will pay more at the pump next month

Vehicles at a petrol station in Abu Dhabi. Reem Mohammed / The National

The prices of petrol and diesel in the UAE will rise next month, it has been announced.

Prices increased in August and July after they fell in June to reflect the trend in the oil market.

The breakdown in price per litre for September is as follows:

• Super 98: Dh3.42 – from Dh3.14 in August (up 8.9 per cent)

• Special 95: Dh3.31 – from Dh3.02 in August (up 9.6 per cent)

• Diesel: Dh3.40 – from Dh2.95 in August (up 15.3 per cent)

• E-plus 91: Dh3.23 – from Dh2.95 in August (up 9.5 per cent)

The UAE liberalised petrol prices in 2015 to allow rates to move in line with the market. In 2020, prices were frozen by the Fuel Price Committee after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The controls were removed in March 2021 to reflect the movement of the market once again.

Oil prices have recorded two straight weeks of losses after a seven-week rally amid growing concerns about China's economic growth and an improving supply outlook.

China's post-coronavirus economic recovery has lost momentum mainly due to a deepening property slump and weak consumer spending.

The world's second-largest economy and top crude importing country introduced a slew of stimulus measures this week to revive growth, including halving the stamp duty on stock transactions and slowing the pace of initial public offerings.

On the supply side, Iran aims to boost its crude production to 3.4 million barrels per day by the end of summer, from 3.2 million bpd currently, Oil Minister Javad Owji was quoted as saying by Iranian state news agency Shana last week.

The US is also in talks with Venezuela to explore a temporary lifting of sanctions in exchange for fair elections next year, Bloomberg reported earlier.

The possibility of further monetary tightening has also weighed on futures.

At the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming last Friday, US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank would continue to aim to bring inflation down to 2 per cent.

The US economy is not cooling as expected, with stronger-than-anticipated gross domestic product growth and “especially robust” consumer spending, he said.

Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, was trading 0.31 per cent higher at $86.13 a barrel at 12.13pm UAE time on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was up 0.32 per cent at $81.89 a barrel.