Petrol prices up by 10percent

THE price of petrol went up by an average of around 10 percent in the Balearics during the first eight months of the year and is continuing at record levels because of the price of crude oil. However, these rises in price have not seen a fall in the sales of fuel on the islands, which have continued to rise.
The President of the Balearic Service Station Owners Association, Jesus Salas, said that filling a petrol tank with grade 95 petrol (normal unleaded petrol) costs an average of 60 euros on the islands, but two years ago this would only have cost 45 euros. Actually, the average price of grade 95 petrol on the islands in 1.060 euros per litre, some 11 percent more than at the beginning of the year and 2.5 percent more than in August 2005 when there was a sharp rise in the price of a barrel of crude oil caused by hurricane Katrina and the wars in the Middle East. Grade 98 petrol is around 1.165 euros a litre, some 10 percent more than in January 2006 and two percent more than in August 2005, while diesel (DERV) costs an average of 0.993 euros per litre, some 9 percent more than at the beginning of the year and some 3.5 percent more than 12 months ago, fluctuating around the psychological barrier of one euro per litre, which it exceeded for the first time some months ago. Salas estimated that, if crude oil prices remain steady and nothing unusual happens (such as new hurricanes or the worsening of the international wars), the price of petrol at the end of this year will have risen by 15 percent in the Balearics.