The prices of petrol and diesel fuel both fell by three to five cents per litre at the end of last week. Motorists headed for a service station in the town of Nokia where the pump price per litre for 95-octane fuel was reported to be 1.369 euros on Sunday. The average national price per litre on Saturday was 1.48 euros.
A further drop in prices by a few cents was forecast by the ABC retail chain. The ST1 chain lowered prices at the end of the week. However, market leader Neste did not wish to speculate on possible price changes at the pumps.
In the company's view, predicting wholesale prices remained difficult due to the U.S. finance crisis. However, a continued drop in wholesale prices would lead to lower prices at service stations, Neste Director, Arvo Ruotsalainen noted.
The price of crude oil stood at 97.5 dollars per barrel on Friday. In July, the price topped almost 150 dollars per barrel.
