Best to fill the gasoline tank before the end of the day today, Friday, or be prepared for a clubbing as gasoline prices increase at Saturday a whopping ¢73 colones for a liter of super, ¢67 for regular and ¢26 for diesel.
The increase was expected to be published today in the official government newsletter La Gaceta.
At 12:01am Saturday, prices at the pumps go from ¢618 to ¢691 for a liter of super; from ¢602 to ¢669 for a liter of regular; and from ¢542 to ¢568 for diesel.
For the average vehicle with a 45 liter tank, the increase will mean an extra ¢3,285 to fill up with super, ¢3,015 with regular and ¢1,170 with diesel.
AV gas, Jet-fuel A1, Kerosene and LPG also increase. Click here and scroll to page 23 for prices of ALL fuels.
This is the second increase of fuel prices this year, after four consecutive drops.
Gasoline prices in Costa Rica are regulated. The Recope – the State refinery that doesn’t refine anything – on a monthly basis requests an adjustment to the price of fuels based on a number of factors, including international oil prices.
The Aresep, the government regulator, then goes through the public process (farce) of hearings, analysis and other bs, to then aquiece to the request for an increase (or drop) in prices at the pumps, which is then effective at all points of sale across the country.
Recope continues to push on Ethanol
This latest request came days after the Recope had to back off on its plans to sell an ethanol mix to replace super.
It seems that Recope still intends to introduce ethanol to consumers, on its Facebook page it posts that it is continuing to the test the product.
The plan to replace super with ECO95 that would have started this month was stopped (postponed for a year) after a sea of criticism and doubts about the consequences of the product on the engines. Recope said that it will fine-tune details and that he does not give up selling ECO95 because it is better for the environment.
