Fuel Prices Rise Again

The prices of petroleum derivatives will rise again from midnight, with gasoline increasing by 18 and 19 lipa per liter, and euro diesel and heating oil by 16 lipa. The price of blue diesel marked euro has also been set at 6.73 kuna starting tomorrow, according to data from the Ministry of Economy, which today announced the highest levels of retail prices for petroleum derivatives for the period from February 19 to March 4.

During this period, the highest price for eurosuper BS 95 will be 10.83 kuna per liter, which is 18 lipa higher than the previous 10.65 kuna.

Eurosuper BS 98 will also increase by 18 lipa and will be sold at a maximum price of 11.18 kuna (previously 11.00 kuna) from midnight, while eurosuper BS 100 will rise by 19 lipa, as the Ministry has set its highest retail price at 11.42 kuna (previously 11.23 kuna).

The retail price of euro diesel BS will increase by 16 lipa per liter, rising from the previous 9.84 kuna to 10.00 kuna. Thus, the price of euro diesel will again reach 10 kuna after just over three months, a level it last reached in the first half of November last year when it was priced at 10.04 kuna.

Heating oil, or gas oil marked euro, will also increase by 16 lipa per liter, with a new price of 7.19 kuna (previously 7.03 kuna), as well as blue diesel (without the euro mark), which will have a new price of 6.42 kuna (previously 6.26 kuna).

The Ministry also announced a new price for gas oil dyed blue marked euro, which is intended for farmers and fishermen, priced at 6.73 kuna, which is 40 lipa higher than the previous 6.33 kuna.

This increase is primarily a result of changes to the Regulation on determining the highest levels of retail prices for derivatives, which altered the formula for blue diesel of euro quality, removing the previous 4 percent price reduction that, according to the Ministry of Economy, applied to the previous lower quality blue diesel.

Blue diesel is now actually at the level of euro diesel of euro V quality, so the previous 4 percent price reduction has been removed from its price, the Ministry states.

The first calculation according to this new formula was applied today, which has led to a one-time larger increase in the price of euro blue diesel, by 6.3 percent.

However, the Ministry explains that this is a higher quality blue diesel and that, given the change in the Regulation and the formula for calculating the price of euro blue diesel, a simple price comparison is not possible.

Furthermore, the price set today for euro blue diesel is not subject to the rule that the price of a particular derivative can increase by a maximum of 3 percent, as it has been determined for the first time according to the new formula from the Regulation.

Recently, there have been supply issues in certain areas with blue diesel precisely due to compliance with environmental requirements, namely the withdrawal of the previous blue diesel and the introduction of the new euro blue diesel with significantly lower sulfur content, which has caused dissatisfaction among farmers and fishermen in some areas due to shortages.

Supply problems are expected to be resolved soon, as reported by INA, which anticipates that euro blue diesel should be available at all gas stations that sell this type of derivative in the short term.