NewsWhore
08-11-2011, 04:20 PM
Regular gasoline prices have been reduced RD$10.39 and premium gasoline is down RD$9.76 for sales as of Saturday, it was announced yesterday. President Leonel Fernandez visited the Ministry of Industry and Commerce yesterday.
As of Saturday, a gallon of premium gasoline will sell for RD$227.34, and regular gasoline will sell for RD$210.31.
Premium diesel is down RD$9.38 to sell at RD$192.73, regular diesel is down RD$10.87 to sell for RD$187.72. Propane gas will now cost RD$104.17.
There is a law that pegs the cost of fuel in the Dominican Republic to international prices, but the Fernandez administration has its own way of applying it, with a marked slant towards increasing fuel prices when international oil prices go up, but a reticence to reducing prices when fuel prices decline.
Fernandez defended the way his government has applied the Hydrocarbons Law. Speaking to the press after his meeting at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce he said the government is actually subsidizing the price of fuel. The President said that all costs not being passed on to consumers, despite critics making the point that fuel in the Dominican Republic is at a regional high.
The President argued that local rebates are not made as soon as there is a decline in oil prices because there is inventory that has been purchased at higher prices.
Minister Manuel Garcia Arevalo said the government intends to continue to give priority to natural gas conversion.
Ramon Perez Figuereo of the CNTU union of transporters, said gasoline prices should have dropped RD$40-49 pesos and not RD$10 to reflect the 20% decline in recent weeks. Fellow union director, Juan Hubieres has observed that in 2008, when the barrel of oil was at US$148, gasoline was sold for RD$154 and RD$155 (premium), diesel was RD$140 and LPG was RD$55. International fuel prices have averaged around US$80 the past two weeks.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
As of Saturday, a gallon of premium gasoline will sell for RD$227.34, and regular gasoline will sell for RD$210.31.
Premium diesel is down RD$9.38 to sell at RD$192.73, regular diesel is down RD$10.87 to sell for RD$187.72. Propane gas will now cost RD$104.17.
There is a law that pegs the cost of fuel in the Dominican Republic to international prices, but the Fernandez administration has its own way of applying it, with a marked slant towards increasing fuel prices when international oil prices go up, but a reticence to reducing prices when fuel prices decline.
Fernandez defended the way his government has applied the Hydrocarbons Law. Speaking to the press after his meeting at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce he said the government is actually subsidizing the price of fuel. The President said that all costs not being passed on to consumers, despite critics making the point that fuel in the Dominican Republic is at a regional high.
The President argued that local rebates are not made as soon as there is a decline in oil prices because there is inventory that has been purchased at higher prices.
Minister Manuel Garcia Arevalo said the government intends to continue to give priority to natural gas conversion.
Ramon Perez Figuereo of the CNTU union of transporters, said gasoline prices should have dropped RD$40-49 pesos and not RD$10 to reflect the 20% decline in recent weeks. Fellow union director, Juan Hubieres has observed that in 2008, when the barrel of oil was at US$148, gasoline was sold for RD$154 and RD$155 (premium), diesel was RD$140 and LPG was RD$55. International fuel prices have averaged around US$80 the past two weeks.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)