After National Day holiday, gasoline prices may increase sharply

Gasoline prices in the US have risen to their highest level in two years, and gasoline prices in the Asian market are also trading at high levels.

Gasoline prices in the Singapore market have been adjusted upward in recent trading sessions. Specifically, the base price of RON 92 gasoline traded on August 31 in Singapore was 67.27 USD/barrel, kerosene price was 64.37 USD/barrel, diesel price was 64.23 USD/barrel and fuel oil price was 305.28 USD/ton.

The average price of gasoline in the past 15 days has always been above 64 USD/barrel and has suddenly increased to 67 USD/barrel in the past 3 days. If calculated from the previous price increase (August 19), gasoline prices in Singapore have increased by nearly 4 USD/barrel.

Gasoline prices may rise sharply next week.

Meanwhile, in the US, gasoline prices are at their highest in two years. The main reason for the increase is Hurricane Harvey, which devastated the US on August 26.

Major fuel pipelines to the Northeast and Midwest of the United States are being shut down due to storms, causing a shortage of supply to the market. Therefore, since the beginning of this week, gasoline and oil prices have been pushed up across the United States. Currently, gasoline prices in the United States are trading at $2.519/gallon (1 gallon = 3.785 liters), the highest level since August 2015.

Hurricane Harvey hit the southern United States, causing widespread flooding. Oil refineries have proactively cut production by nearly 25%, or 4.4 million barrels per day. In addition, several refineries have closed due to flooding, including the largest refinery in the United States, Motiva, in Port Arthur. It is expected to reopen in two weeks.

As import prices from the Singapore market continue to follow the upward trend of world prices, it is likely that domestic retail gasoline prices will increase further in the upcoming adjustment. Thus, this could be the fourth consecutive session in which retail gasoline prices have been adjusted up after four consecutive sessions of price reduction.

In the previous adjustment (August 19), the Ministry of Industry and Trade - Ministry of Finance decided to increase gasoline prices for the third consecutive time.

Specifically, RON 92 gasoline increased by 461 VND/liter to a maximum of 17,486 VND/liter, E5 gasoline increased by 431 VND to 17,254 VND/liter. Diesel oil remained stable at 13,795 VND/liter, kerosene at 12,398 VND/liter and mazut oil increased slightly by 8 VND to 11,105 VND/kg.

At the same time, the regulatory agency allows to keep the price stabilization fund usage level unchanged for mineral gasoline at 110 VND/liter, E5 gasoline at 90 VND/liter, reduce the usage level for diesel to 27 VND/liter and kerosene to 185 VND/liter./.

According to VOV