"Mahrouqat" raises the prices of oil derivatives in the local market
The Syrian Company for the Storage and Distribution of Petroleum Materials – Mahrouqat announced a new increase in fuel prices as of Wednesday, May 13, after adopting an exchange rate of 13,600 pounds to the dollar instead of 13,300 pounds in the previous pricing.
The new prices came to reflect the jump in the exchange rate, as the price of first mazout increased to $0.88, equivalent to 11,968 Syrian pounds, while the price of 90-octane gasoline increased to $1.10, equal to 14,960 Syrian pounds, and 95-octane gasoline reached $1.15, bringing its local price to 15,640 Syrian pounds.
The increase extended to gas, as the price of a domestic gas cylinder was $12.50 (about 170,000 Syrian pounds), while the price of an industrial gas cylinder reached $20, or about 272,000 Syrian pounds, in an increase that directly reflects the impact of the exchange rate adjustment on all oil derivatives.
The new hike is part of a moving pricing policy that has been followed for months by Houghooqat, which directly links the prices of oil derivatives to exchange rate fluctuations in the parallel market and import costs amid continued pressures on the country's energy market.
Fuel prices increased by up to 30%
The Syrian Petroleum Company announced on Thursday (May 7th) that it had raised the prices of oil and gas derivatives by between 17% and 30%, in a move it said comes in response to economic changes and supply costs.
Under its new pricing , the price of 90-octane gasoline increased to $1.10 per liter from $0.85, while 95-octane gasoline increased to $1.15 per liter compared to $0.91 previously. Diesel also increased to $0.88 per liter from $0.75.
The increase extended to gas, where the price of a cylinder of domestic gas was $12.50 instead of $10.50, while the price of a cylinder of industrial gas increased to $20 from $16.8.
Syrian Petroleum placed the price hike as part of the "Service Sustainability and Supply Continuity Assurance" management in light of the regional and international changes that are putting pressure on the energy sector, considering that the price adjustment is linked to the continuous global rises in oil prices, supply and shipping costs, in addition to the repercussions imposed by the current regional conditions on the supply movement.
Undisclosed pricing
Mahrouqat did not issue any official announcement on its social media platforms regarding the new tariff, but only circulated the prices internally to gas stations and gas customers, in a measure that reflects a clear trend towards adopting a non-public reporting mechanism.
Earlier, "Syrian News" quoted the owners of gas stations in Damascus as saying that any adjustment to the prices of oil derivatives will be communicated to them through internal messages only, away from media publication, in a step that is considered a departure from the usual pattern during the past months, when the company announced its new pricing directly through its official pages on social media.