In the first days of March of this year, the highest prices were reported in the Dominican Republic, while the lowest were registered in the Panamanian capital.
The regional report on average prices to the final consumer of gasoline, diesel and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in Central America, effective for the week of February 27 to March 7, 2021, was made based on official prices and monitoring or surveys carried out by the different General Directorates of Hydrocarbons or equivalent, in the capital of each Central American country.
In Central America, it is projected that the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the business of retail sales of gasoline and oil products will be explained mainly by the expected drop in gasoline and diesel sales.
The "Information System for the Impact Analysis of covid-19 on Business", prepared by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, measures the degree of impact that the crisis will have on companies according to their sector or economic activity, during the coming months.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.86, Nicaragua $3.53, Honduras $3.41, El Salvador $3.06, Guatemala $3.05 and Panama $2.83.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador:
The current reference prices are low for gasoline and diesel nationally, this responds to the latest weekly report of oil reserves provided by the IEA, which reported a 5.07-million-barrel increase, well above the forecast of experts who predicted a superficial growth of just 500 thousand barrels per week. This generates continuity of raw material for petroleum products, even though gasoline reserves decreased 3.04 million barrels and diesel 1.03 million barrels per week.
The company AES Panama launched its liquefied natural gas storage system in the province of Colon, from where it plans to supply the entire Central American region.
This liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution system will supply the 381 MW thermal plant located on site, also owned by AES, which began operating in August 2018.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.97, Nicaragua $3.55, Honduras $3.40, El Salvador $3.09, Guatemala $3.09 and Panama $2.83.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador statement:
The current reference prices show increases in the prices of gasoline and diesel, this is because of the recent armed attack on the country of Saudi Arabia, which is the world's second largest producer of oil and derivatives.
From 2020 onwards, the fuel used by ships worldwide should not exceed 0.5% sulphur concentration, forcing transporters to consume higher priced fuels, which could become even more expensive because of increased demand.
From January 1, 2020, the concentration of sulphur in the fuel consumed by maritime transport vessels must not exceed 0.5%, a limit that until now was at 3.5%.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $4.44, Nicaragua $3.61, Honduras $3.44, El Salvador $3.12, Guatemala $3.09 and Panama $2.93.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador statement:
The reference prices for gasoline and diesel add their second consecutive decline for the current fortnight, the reductions are because of increases in production and refining by U.S.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $4.38, Nicaragua $3.78, Honduras $3.53, El Salvador $3.21, Guatemala $3.24 and Panama $3.03.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador statement:
The reference prices for gasoline and diesel present important declines for the current fortnight, although the United States for several weeks had reflected losses in its reserves, in the last weekly report provided by the IEA, it is reported that increased its oil products and derivatives. Oil increased by 2.4 million barrels after 7 weeks of losses. Likewise, gasoline increased 4.4 million barrels, after two weeks of losses, together with distillates, such as diesel, showed a 1.5-million-barrel increase. The changes in reserves allowed international prices of oil derivatives to show a downward trend.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $4.12, Nicaragua $3.82, Honduras $3.44, El Salvador $3.29, Guatemala $3.22 and Panama $3.04.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador:
The current increases in liquid fuels (gasoline and diesel) are influenced by the decrease in the extraction of oil and processing of derivatives. In the last two weeks the IEA reported a reduction in reserves of 10.58 million barrels of oil and a reduction of 3.03 million barrels of gasoline, generating uncertainty in the international market, reflected in rising prices.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $4.25, Nicaragua $3.68, Honduras $3.59, El Salvador $3.21, Guatemala $3.18 and Panama $3.14.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador statement:
The reference prices for gasoline and diesel are experiencing important reductions in their prices again, because of the good production moment that the U.S.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $4.27, Nicaragua $3.87, Honduras $3.66, El Salvador $3.34, Guatemala $3.28 and Panama $3.14.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador statement:
The current downward trend in all petroleum products is because during the last half of May the IEA reported that gasoline reserves experienced a 4.8-million-barrel growth, providing stability to the demand for this product.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $4.26, Nicaragua $3.89, Honduras $3.72, El Salvador $3.42, Guatemala $3.38 and Panama $3.29.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador statement:
The current reference prices reflect a downward trend, because during the first weeks of May, reserves of gasoline and distillates show minimal reductions, this has allowed prices to be more stable compared to the previous month, since the first half of May gasoline reported a 790,000-barrel decrease, while in April for the first half reported a 10.6-million-barrel reduction. Regarding diesel distillates, during the first fortnight of May a 1.4-million-barrel decrease was reported, while for the first fortnight of April it was 2.5 million barrels, a less marked difference, which affects the price of low-sulfur diesel for the next fortnight.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Nicaragua $3.81, Costa Rica $3.76, Honduras $3.62, El Salvador $3.44, Guatemala $3.22 and Panama $3.07.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador statement:
The increase in the price of oil derivatives is because of a reduction in oil and derivatives worldwide by OPEC and non OPEC countries led by Russia, which have surpassed their own limit of 1.2 million barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day in March.
According to businessmen of the sector, the constant growth of the vehicle fleet explains the investments that have been made in the opening of new service stations in El Salvador.
At the beginning of 2019, there were 455 service stations in operation in the Salvadoran market, according to data from the Hydrocarbons and Mines Directorate of the Ministry of Economy.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.51, Nicaragua $3.51, Honduras $3.31, El Salvador $2.04, Guatemala $2.96 and Panama $2.79.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador report:
The upward trend in fuel prices for the current fortnight is because of reduced reserves of gasoline and distillates such as diesel reported by the IEA. In the last week the decrease in gasoline was 4.2 million barrels, the largest decline recorded in 2019.