Analysts: fuel prices unaffected by rising Brent crude yet

Lithuanian analysts say the current Brent crude price, at around 70 US dollars per barrel, is "normal", but it could shoot up if, for example, the United States imposed sanctions on Iraq, adding that fuel prices at the pump could rise more significantly if the international benchmark soared to at least 80 US dollars.

Global crude prices have jumped by a few percent in recent days after a US air strike killed Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, in Iraq last Friday.

According to SEB Lithuania's economist Tadas Povilauskas, an excise duty hike imposed in Lithuania at the start of the year makes it difficult to measure the impact of crude prices on fuel prices in the country.

Daiva Joksiene, the president of the Association of Lithuanian Oil Product Trade Enterprises, says fuel prices would rise at a sharper rate if the Brent price crossed 80 US dollars a barrel.

"It's probably 80 and over 80 US dollars (...). We had 70 dollars in April and May last year," she told BNS.

Povilauskas notes that the price of Brent crude would cross the 80-dollar mark if the US-Iran tensions escalated further.

"I think we can't say now that (the price of) crude will shoot even higher, in the absence of physical disruptions. The current price is normal," he said.