UAE petrol prices change for first time in 11 months

Motorists in the Emirates will pay more at the pumps in March

Petrol prices in the UAE for March 2021 have been announced. Courtesy ADNOC Distribution

The price of petrol in the UAE has changed for the first time since April 2020.

Motorists will pay more at the pumps for Super 98, Special 95 and Diesel this month. The cost of diesel altered slightly in February.

The breakdown per litre is as follows:

• Super 98: Dh2.12 – up from Dh1.91 in February (11 per cent rise)

• Special 95: Dh2.01 – up from Dh1.80 (12 per cent rise)

• Diesel: Dh2.15 – up from Dh2.01 (7 per cent rise)

Petrol prices in the UAE were liberalised in August 2015 to allow them to move in line with the market. However, they were held by the Fuel Price Committee last year, coinciding with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Global oil prices have been rising steadily this year following their fall last year when the pandemic had a dramatic effect on demand.

Brent crude rose $1.24, or 1.9 per cent, to $65.66 per barrel in trading this morning and is up more than 20 per cent this year, while US West Texas Intermediate was up 1.9 per cent to $62.68 a barrel.

Further gains are expected this week ahead of an Opec+ meeting on Thursday, which may result in some supply returning to the market.

"We think if the combined (Opec+) increase does not exceed 500,000 bpd, that will be bullish for prices," analysts at Singapore's OCBC bank told Reuters.

ING analysts said Opec+ – an alliance of oil producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia –will need to be careful to avoid surprising traders by releasing too much of supplies back into the markets.

"There is a large amount of speculative money in oil at the moment, so they will want to avoid any action that will see them running for the exit," they said.

Meanwhile, Bank of America said last week it expects Brent to rise at its fastest pace since the 1970s over the next three years, potentially hitting $100 per barrel.

Motorists in Abu Dhabi have already been hit with a rise in costs this year after a new road toll system was introduced.

The system, known as Darb, is active between the hours of 7am to 9am and 5pm to 6pm, for people driving through the gates on Sheikh Khalifa Bridge, Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Al Maqta Bridge and Musaffah Bridge. Passing through costs Dh4.