Fuel prices for October 2018 announced in Oman

Muscat: The National Subsidy System has announced the fuel prices for October in Oman and all three types of fuels have witnessed a slight increase in price. According to the new list, the price of M91 petrol has reached 222 baisas per litre, up from 218 baisas last month.
Meanwhile, M95 petrol will be priced at 233 baisas per litre, also higher than last month.
Moreover, the price of diesel in October rose to 258 baisas per litre, up from 252 baisas in September.
Observers said that the increase in fuel prices is the result of an increase in the price of crude oil and de-regulation of fuel prices. However, they added that the increase was not substantial and would therefore not affect the consumer greatly.
Moreover, Alkesh Joshi, partner at Ernst and Young, warned that the rise in fuel prices for the month of October should not be tied to the huge increase in crude prices from last week.
“One has to realise that the rise in Oman crude prices in the last week of September will not reflect in the fuel prices today since the oil will be traded at these fresh prices in the future. This has more to do with the increase in oil prices from late July to early August,” he said. “As you can see, the increase is nominal. So, there won’t be a significant increase in expenditure for people. It is also difficult to say to what extent the de-regulation process has affected the prices,” Joshi said.
However, he said there might be a significant increase in fuel prices if there was a sustained increase in the value of crude to the highs of US$95 per barrel or so.
“Perhaps, there will be a substantial increase in fuel prices if the crude oil price goes up significantly. But then again, the government is bound to come up with something to limit those effects. There is already a fuel subsidy in place,” he added.