HELSINKI: The price of petroleum products at a refueling station in Helsinki on Thursday, August 6 2015. Photo – Lehtikuva. The price of crude oil in the world markets has been falling, but this has not affected car refuelling in the country.
Crude oil price has a relatively small share in the final price of the product, said Finnish Petroleum and Bio-fuels Association Deputy Managing Director Pekka Huttul when asked why the drop in crude oil price has not benefited motorists refuelling at local filling stations.
According to Huttula, the country’s national fuel taxation is high and the exchange rate relations also have an impact. The US dollar has strengthened in the recent past and that is felt in Europe, since oil trading is conducted in dollars. The price of oil has also been influenced by the fact that the demand for oil in the world markets had been remarkably high at the beginning of the year.
The demand has been particularly high in the United States, and the capacity of the local refineries has not been adequate.When asked about the price formation of the fuel sold at Finnish gas stations and how they come about, Huttula said most of it comes from taxation. Then, there are the raw materials, processing, storage and transportation as well as marginal trading.
