Further rises in fuel prices likely, station owners warn

Fuel prices in Cyprus will rise again if international oil prices stay at current levels for a few more days, the petrol stations owners’ association president Savvas Prokopiou said on Tuesday. He stated the recent small fall in pump prices had not been matched on the international market. Over the last fortnight, oil traded close to ($102) (€89) a barrel, he said, but it has now settled at around $112 (€97). “Unfortunately, things did not go as we would have liked,” he said, adding that the association hoped for “positive geopolitical developments” which would ease the situation. The latest figures put the average pump price in Cyprus at €1.760 a litre for 95 octane petrol and €2.021 for diesel, while petrol was up 0.92 per cent on the week and diesel down 0.44 per cent. A reduced excise duty on motor fuels remains in force until November 30. Keravnos said public ‘should not expect significant decreases’ Finance Minister Makis Keravnos has said the government aims to contain prices rather than achieve major reductions, and that “one should not expect significant decreases”. Prokopiou asked Keravnos for extra support to stem the rise in the price of heating oil, saying the aid announced by the government was “very small”. Parliament approved a cut of 5.3 cents a litre in the tax on heating fuel last Thursday, applying from October 23 until April 30 next year, at an estimated cost to the state of €5.2 million. Prokopiou welcomed an initiative by Disy MP Nikos Georgiou, chairman of the House energy committee, to legislate on what appears on fuel receipts. He acknowledged that he did not expect the receipt to show exactly where consumers’ money goes. The association represents around 60 per cent of stations, with the rest owned by oil companies or private operators which he said can better absorb costs. Prokopiou warned that some members “will not be able to order fuel” if prices keep rising, as trading becomes “unprofitable”, and said this had already happened at some stations in other countries. Consumers’ assoc. chief said ‘more relief could be given’ Previously, consumers’ association chairman Marios Drousiotis had said that “more relief could be given” by the government to allow for fuel prices to be reduced and warned that the current 8.33-cent-per-litre reduction on fuel consumption tax does not end up in the pockets of consumers. “It did not go to consumers, because it is up to the petrol station owner if he wants to reduce the price,” he said, adding that 19 petrol stations did not reduce their retail prices at all when the subsidy was introduced in April. He said he had brought this matter to the attention of the government at the time, and that “they told us it is not illegal”. Govt campaigning for suspension of ETS2 Meanwhile, the government has been campaigning in Europe for the suspension of the implementation of the EU’s new emissions trading system, known as ETS2, with President Nikos Christodoulides having said at this month’s European Council summit that he now believes the European Commission “has grasped” the need to do so. Cyprus is one of seven countries which has supported suspending the implementation of ETS2, standing alongside Greece, Italy, and the “Visegrad 4” countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – in doing so. The European Commission says ETS2 will “cover and address the carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion in buildings, road transport, and additional sectors”, which it said comprise “mainly small industry not covered by the existing emissions trading system”. Member states will be required to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions produced by buildings and road transport as well as other sectors, as they currently are for carbon dioxide emitted in energy production and nitrous oxide emissions, which the EU then spends on climate and energy-related investments. At present, ETS2 is expected to be gradually implemented between this coming January and 2028, but calls for that date to be pushed back have been made throughout this year, with conflicts in the Middle East and in Europe having caused energy costs to rise. Christodoulides warned that were ETS2 to be implemented, “it would mean … that people and businesses would end up paying at a time when there are so many challenges due to energy costs stemming from a crisis which … no one can say when it will end”.