UAE petrol prices to rise in February

The National -- Drivers in the UAE will pay more at the pumps to fill up their cars from February 1.

The Ministry of Energy announced this morning that Super 98 will rise to Dh2.36 a litre - an increase of 5 per cent; Super 95 will be Dh2.25, up from Dh2.12 - a rise of 6 per cent; E-Plus 91 will be Dh2.17 - up 5.8 per cent.

The cost of diesel meanwhile will be Dh2.49 per litre - an increase of nearly 7 per cent from January.

Prices are inclusive of VAT, the ministry said.

Motorists experienced an increase in price of between 4 and 6 per cent on January 1 compared with December.

For more than two years, the cost of petrol and diesel in the UAE has moved with the market as the Ministry of Energy began its liberalisation policy.

The ministry uses “benchmark prices”.

Brent Crude was trading at slightly above $70 a barrel going into the weekend. On Thursday it reached $71.28 - its highest level since December 2014.

"The continuous fall in US oil inventories and the prolonged weakness in the US dollar have done the trick," Tamas Varga of broker PVM, told Reuters, referring to oil hitting a new high.