QCOSTARICA – Following a series of consecutive drops in gasoline prices in the past six months, brace yourself for an increase, if approved, in March.
The state refinery, the Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo (RECOPE) on Friday made a request for an increase in gasoline prices: ¢41 colones for a litre of super; ¢34 for regular; and ¢19 for diesel.
If approved by the regulatory agency, the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (ARESEP), the prices at the pumps will go from the current ¢536 to ¢570 for super, regular from ¢503 to ¢544, and diesel from ¢474 to ¢493.
The head of Financial and Economic Studies (Estudios Financieros y Económicos in Spanish) at the RECOPE, Luis Carlos Solera, said the proposed rise in fuel prices is mainly due to a strike by workers in nine US refineries, which threatens the supply of the finished product.
The request is based on the automatic review of fuel prices that takes place every second Friday of each month.
The increase would break the streak of eight consecutive price drops approved by the ARESEP that began in the second half of last year.
The highest prices for gasoline ever was recorded last July, when a litre of super sold at the pumps for ¢816 colones. The highest price for diesel was recorded in May 2014, when a litre sold for ¢689 colones. Click here for the RECOPE table (in PDF) of gasoline prices from January 1994 to February 2015.
