Another day of rising naphtha prices has skyrocketed

In official circles, it was repeated yesterday that it was not planned to negotiate with the oil companies on prices, according to the transcended one according to which the UCR, through the governor of Mendoza, Alfredo Cornejo, had asked for a few days ago rejected from the plane by President Mauricio Macri.

Brent oil, a benchmark in our country, closed yesterday in the London market at $ 74, the highest price since last November, and international badysts predict that it could continue to rise in the coming days.

Yesterday's close means an 8.2% increase over the March 29 – US $ 68.39 – rating before oil companies define the latest increase in suppliers.

To this is added the instability of the exchange rate. Although yesterday, the official dollar closed at $ 43.69, an amount lower than the value of $ 44.4 verified on March 29, the oil companies said the surge in March's rise Had not been transferred to prices. The consequence is that fuels lost their parity with the import value obtained in February when the dollar was trading around 39 dollars.

Added to all this is the rise in inflation in the first quarter, which is also an element taken into account by refiners during pricing. While, during the first three months, the consumer price index rose by 11.8%, that of fuel fell by about 1% in January, or 1.6% in February, 2 , 8% in January and another 4.5% on April 1st, well below the general increase.

As for the international price of oil, Brent reached 75 USD yesterday, while at the end of 2018, it was trading around 50 USD. According to badysts, the rise is a consequence of the announcement of the US government. on which it will end exemptions on the purchase of Iranian oil in order to reduce to zero exports from that country (see more information on page 19).

In November, the United States reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil exports after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from an agreement to cut Iran's nuclear program, signed by Tehran and six world powers. But at that time, the US government was granting exemptions to Iran's top eight customers: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece, which allowed them to buy from oil for another six months.

According to international agencies, a further reduction in the Iranian supply will heighten the pressure on a market already adjusted by US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, as well as by the voluntary cuts in pumping that the US government is doing. OPEC has accepted with other producers such as Russia.

With the deregulated local market, international market increases will be transferred to the public and pressures will be added to the May indexes, despite the official plan to show a reduction in the level of inflation as of this month.