UAE petrol and diesel prices to rise in August

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

Vehicles queue up to refuel at a petrol station in Dubai. AFP

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

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

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

• Super 98: Dh3.14 – from Dh3.00 in July (up 4.67 per cent)

• Special 95: Dh3.02 – from Dh2.89 in July (up 4.5 per cent)

• Diesel: Dh2.95 – from Dh2.76 in July (up 6.9 per cent)

• E-plus 91: Dh2.95 – from Dh2.81 in July (up 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.

On Monday, oil prices were headed for their biggest monthly gain in over a year amid a tightening crude market.

Falling crude stocks, tightening supply and easing concerns about aggressive interest rate increases have supported crude futures in recent weeks, with Brent crude, the benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, up by about $9 from a month ago.

Goldman Sachs has reaffirmed its Brent forecast of $86 a barrel by December and expects prices to rise to $93 in the second quarter of 2024.

The investment bank also raised its 2023 oil demand estimate by 550,000 barrels a day, and said that crude consumption reached a record high of 102.8 million bpd this month.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, said it would extend its voluntary output cut of 1 million bpd until August.

Russia has also announced an additional output reduction of 500,000 bpd for next month.

On June 4, Opec+ agreed to keep its current output policy in place until the end of 2024.

The group has total production curbs in place of 3.66 million bpd, or about 3.7 per cent of global demand, including a 2 million bpd reduction agreed on last year and voluntary cuts of 1.66 million bpd announced in April.