Fuel prices in Georgia

Recently the world oil price has been jumping up and down very dramatically. Last year it went up to USD 200 per barrel but then it fell as low as USD 35, only to rise again to USD 65. You cannot see evidence of such dramatic changes in Georgia however. Although the prices of oil products have fallen almost threefold in the global market they are only slightly down or just the same in Georgia.

When the world prices dropped dramatically at the end of last year Georgian oil retailers said that they were still selling at high prices because they had purchased the oil when its price was high and they had to use up these reserves. It seems however that these reserves are inexhaustible because prices have only decreased very slightly, despite the world price decreasing almost threefold.

Labour Party leaders blame Georgian elite corruption for this. They think that the Rose Revolution administration’s leadership has driven small oil importing companies into bankruptcy and established big monopolies in their place. However the Chairman of the Union of Oil Product Producers and Importers Vano Mtvralashvili categorically denies that the state controls the oil business in Georgia.