QCOSTARICA – Despite the small increase in the price of gasoline that will occur in the coming days, we can expect a BIG drop in the first week of March.
The Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) – regulating authority on public prices and services – confirms that a litre of gasoline will drop ¢140 colones and diesel ¢88.
For example, with the change, a litre of super gasoline will drop to ¢419 (today’s price is ¢559) a litre, meaning it will cost ¢6.270 colones less to fill a 45 litre gasoline tank. The price of a litre of regular gasoline will drop to ¢399 and ¢365 for diesel.
The drop reflects the decline in the international price of a barrel of oil and its derivatives in the last six months. According to Oil-price.net, the WTI crude oil this morning (Feb. 6, 2016) is US$30.89; the 1 year forecast is US$35/barrel.
But, before the big drop, next week we will see an increase of ¢3 colones for a litre of regular and ¢5 for diesel. The increase will go into effect once published in La Gaceta, the official government newsletter, setting the price of a litre of regular at ¢536 and diesel at ¢539; super stays the same at ¢559.