Price at the pump is rising day by day, but a fuel shortage is not yet in sight

The war in Ukraine is putting considerable pressure on the global financial markets. Stock markets suffered significant losses yesterday and oil and gas are quickly becoming more expensive. The energy sector has been preparing for this situation for some time, De Vries said this morning in Utrecht is Wakker on Radio M Utrecht. “The fuel market operates worldwide and took into account different scenarios. This translates into actions such as saving or not saving.”

But in the end it is inevitable that energy prices will come under pressure due to geopolitical developments, says the director of the trade association: ”Russia is a very large supplier of gas, but not the only one. So buyers are looking for alternatives. Liquefied gas has to come by ships from the US or Qatar and there are different prices.”

Prices on the oil market have been high for some time, a barrel of crude oil currently costs about 100 dollars. “There are also other sources for oil, but we have to take into account that those prices will remain high for a longer period of time. Economies are starting up in full force so more energy is needed. And high demand means high prices.”

The economic suffering will be limited to those high prices for the time being, De Vries does not expect energy shortages to arise so quickly. ”The Netherlands and other countries have a strategic stock of three months, which means that if nothing were delivered at all, we could still go three months ahead. But that situation is nowhere in sight.”

On behalf of the trade association, De Vries calls on the cabinet to accommodate motorists. It doesn’t help that the Netherlands has the highest excise duty on petrol in Europe. The government also levies VAT on that, so you could do something about it to relieve pain.”