FUEL SHIPMENT ARRIVES IN BELIZE, PRICES INCREASE


A shipment of petroleum products was scheduled for arrival in Belize yesterday. A statement from the Government Press Office says there will be a significant increase in purchase costs in this shipment. The price for premium gasoline is ninety-five cents. Government will absorb seventy-nine cents of the cost per gallon, which means that customers will now pay an extra sixteen cents per gallon of premium. At midnight last night premium gasoline rose to ten dollars per gallon. The cost per gallon of regular is now nine dollars and seventy-five cents; kerosene is now seven dollars and forty-eight cents and diesel went up to seven dollars and forty-one cents. According to Government, the increase in the purchase cost of fuel is a direct result of the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the oil refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast.