The first shipment of Venezuelan fuel under the resurrected Petrocaribe agreement arrived on Saturday September eighth - and by next week some of it will be finding its way into your gas tank.
But, don't expect lower prices! In fact, prices on diesel and Regular fuel are expected to go up!
Diesel's pump price will go up sharply - possibly by as a much as a dollar per gallon because world prices are trending up - and the current local price of 10 dollars and 17 cents per gallon has been kept artificially low due to the fact that PUMA had to compete with cheaper diesel imported by BNE.
Regular is also going up - reportedly by a little over ten cents a gallon. But that's because it's a higher grade of regular fuel - which is comparable with the Magna grade fuel sold in Mexico. That means it has a higher octane rating of 87 Octane, compared to the 83 Octane fuel that currently sells as regular.
The price on premium fuel may go down slightly - but we're not sure how much.
And so while you won't generally be paying less at the pump - the idea behind the Petrocaribe initiative is that the proceeds from the sales should benefit the country - as Government is allowed to defer as much as 50% of the payment for the fuel - and convert it into a long term low interest loan. In the interim, the government of Venezuela expects government to use the savings for investment in projects that will have a beneficial social impact.
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