Oil, OPEC-Russia brawl: gasoline price falls

Last December Opec + had already agreed on a cut of 1.7 million barrels (out of a total of 29.95 million), but not all countries had however adapted. In February, an OPEC technical committee then recommended a further reduction of 600,000 barrels to counter the “coronavirus epidemic in China and its potential impact on the oil market”. This measure was never officially approved by Russia. “We have an oversupply, OPEC and non-OPEC countries need to do something about market equilibrium,” explained Iranian oil minister Bijan Zangeneh, clarifying that without the Moscow OK today “there will be no agreement.” And also for this reason yesterday the prices, after a small rebound, started to fall again with the OPEC basket which closed at 51.99 dollars against 52.65 on Tuesday.

The appeal of Faib and Figisc
While pump prices have fallen by a few cents for weeks and consumers are crying out for speculation, because crude oil has fallen by 25% since the beginning of the year, fuel stations report the vertical drop in consumption and sound the alarm asking for help from the government. According to Figisc and Faib, in the last ten days fuel sales in Italy have recorded generalized decreases of 20/30% with peaks of over 50% in the areas most close to the areas most directly affected by the emergency and also higher on the highways to close to the large urban areas of the North. “The measures to contain the health emergency – explains the president of Figisc / Confcommercio, Bruno Bearzi – are objectively determining a progressive reduction in the overall mobility of the country and this only aggravates an already difficult situation in the sector which now risks a default of liquid assets”. “What worries us – says the president of Faib / Confesercenti Martino Landi – is the continuation of the emergency, that is, what will happen in the next few days and weeks with Easter at the door. If the scenario does not improve and the shutdown of the activities in the north of the country continues, we would also encounter critical issues in supplies, because many small businesses would not be able to withstand the impact of a prolonged drop in sales in the face of expensive management. And in that case even emergency mobility could be subject to repercussions ».