Oil prices rose in January due to uncertainty around US President Donald Trump's policy around tariffs and US sanctions impacting Russian crude exports. These global factors could lead to higher petrol prices in the UAE in February.
Brent oil averaged around $77.55 a barrel in January compared to $73 a barrel in December 2024.
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In the UAE, Super 98, Special 95 and E-Plus were priced at Dh2.61, Dh2.50 and Dh2.43 per litre, respectively, in January 2025. Diesel was priced at Dh2.68 a litre.
Petrol prices in December 2024 , which remained unchanged in January 2025 , were the lowest in the past one year.
Since the UAE deregulated petrol prices in 2015, retail petrol rates for the upcoming month are announced at the end of every month to bring them at par with the global rates.
On Wednesday noon time, WTI was trading at $73.99 a barrel, up 0.3 per cent while Brent was trading 0.17 per cent higher at $77.62 a barrel.
Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer of Century Financial, said Brent rose above $81 a barrel to its highest in more than four months as wider US sanctions are expected to affect Russian crude exports to top buyers China and India.
“Brent and WTI have risen by more than 6 per cent since January 8 and both contracts surged after the US Treasury imposed wider sanctions on Russian oil on Friday. The new sanctions included producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil, targeting the revenue Moscow has used to fund its war with Ukraine,” he said.
Russian oil exports will be hurt severely by the new sanctions, pushing China and India, the world's top and third largest oil importers respectively, to source more crude from the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, which will boost prices and shipping costs, traders and analysts said.
“The new Russian sanctions from the outgoing administration are a net addition to at-risk supply, adding more uncertainty to the (first quarter) outlook," RBC Capital analysts said in a note.
| Month | Super 98 | Special 95 | E-plus 91 |
| January 2024 | 2.82 | 2.71 | 2.64 |
| February 2024 | 2.88 | 2.76 | 2.69 |
| March 2024 | 3.03 | 2.92 | 2.85 |
| April 2024 | 3.15 | 3.03 | 2.96 |
| May 2024 | 3.34 | 3.22 | 3.15 |
| June 2024 | 3.14 | 3.02 | 2.95 |
| July 2024 | 2.99 | 2.88 | 2.80 |
| August 2024 | 3.05 | 2.93 | 2.86 |
| September 2024 | 2.90 | 2.78 | 2.71 |
| October 2024 | 2.66 | 2.54 | 2.47 |
| November 2024 | 2.74 | 2.63 | 2.55 |
| December 2024 | 2.61 | 2.50 | 2.43 |
| January 2025 | 2.61 | 2.50 | 2.43 |