The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission announced today the following petroleum pricing decisions, effective Thursday, September 18, 2008:
• Gasoline prices will decrease by 10.0 cents per litre (cpl);
• Furnace oil and stove oil prices will decrease by 6.0 cpl;
• Diesel prices will decrease by 6.0 cpl; and
• There will be no changes in propane prices at this time.
Including taxes, pump prices for regular unleaded gasoline at self-serve outlets will now range from 125.5 cpl to 127.6 cpl.
The revelation that any long term damage to the U.S. Gulf Coast refining industry will be minimal has resulted in a significant deflation of wholesale market prices over the past 24 hours. While it will take weeks for refining production to be completely restored to pre-hurricane levels, market apprehension over storm related interruptions appears to be waning. This in concert with the continued reduced global demand due to economic weaknesses in both U.S. and European economies is resulting in a downward pressure on market prices at this time.
The Commission’s next scheduled price adjustment will be on October 1, 2008.