QCOSTARICA – Today, Friday, December 10, the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (RECOPE) – the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery that refines nothing, will make a formal request to regulating authorities for a ¢52 colones drop in the price per liter of gasoline and another of ¢39 in diesel fuel.
It will be the third price reduction this year and the one with the greatest impact for consumers.
According to Alejandro Muñoz Villalobos, executive president of the RECOPE, from an international perspective, prices fell mainly due to the appearance of the omicron variant of the virus that causes covid-19, as it unleashes fears that produce a decrease in fuel demand.
This effect will be transferred to users in Costa Rica in the first half of January.
The formal request to the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep), on the second Friday of each month as established by the methodology approved by the Regulatory Authority, the price per liter of super gasoline would go from the current ¢766 to ¢714; regular gasoline from ¢750 to ¢648; and diesel from ¢ 649 to ¢ 610.
“I am pleased to inform you that, with data as of today, December 9, the reduction in the price of fuel that would be firmed up tomorrow Friday. Let’s hope that there will be no variation in the exchange rate or in international prices so that this important reduction can be consolidated,” Muñoz said in a statement.
On November 12, Muñoz himself announced the last increase in 2021 when he presented another extraordinary adjustment for an increase of ¢28 per liter of super gasoline, ¢27 per liter of regular and ¢28 per liter of diesel, increases that came into effect at the end of November.
When the RECOPE sends its request this Friday, the Aresep will have 15 days to resolve the request and publish its decision in the official newspaper La Gaceta.
Typically the change in fuel prices would take effect by the end of the month or first week of the following month, but due to the year-end holidays, the approval and change at the pumps will be a little longer.
