The retail price of Ai-95 gasoline has exceeded the psychological threshold of 30 lei per liter in Moldova.
At the same time, the maximum retail selling prices of diesel fuel in the country continue to decline. According to the National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE), there has been a significant increase of petrol prices in the world lately and the change of prices for diesel fuel, which is becoming cheaper. Thus, while in March and April there was an atypical phenomenon of a more pronounced increase in Platts quotations for diesel fuel, which led to a temporary excess of its selling price in relation to gasoline, since the beginning of May the traditional parity between the two types of fuel has returned. To compare, whereas a ton of diesel fuel was nearly $30-170 per ton of gasoline in March-April, at the last session on May 17, gasoline was already $184 per ton more expensive than diesel. Consequently, this month gasoline prices have risen by $159.5/t, while diesel prices have dropped by $57.5/t. Another factor contributing to the increase in the final price is the increase in the exchange rate of the national currency against the U.S. dollar by about 0.5 lei over the same period. As noted by ANRE, at the same time oil prices continue to be influenced by high demand from the Ukrainian market and the prospect of the European Union's refusal to import crude oil and petroleum products from Russia. Under such conditions, based on the price formation algorithm, based on the average value of Platts' average quotations for the previous 14 days, correlated with the MDL/Dollar exchange rate, the following maximum retail selling prices of main standard type petroleum products were set for May 19: gasoline COR 95 - 30.09 lei/liter (+0.31 lei); diesel fuel - 27.48 lei/liter (-0.08 lei). ANRE reminds that the petroleum products pricing mechanism applied as of September 1, 2021, aims at providing consumers with fair, transparent and easily verifiable prices, the changes on the international market being accurately reflected in the prices of petrol stations both for increases and decreases. // 18.05.2022- InfoMarket.
