Fuel Prices in Morocco Set to Rise Amid Middle East Tensions, Experts Warn

Towards a surge in fuel prices in Morocco? The price of a barrel of oil has increased by more than $10 after a week of Iranian strikes against Israel; an average increase of $1 per day, said El Houssine El Yamani. If this upward trend continues due to the escalation of the war in the Middle East and its instrumentalization by Israel and the United States, some non-oil producing countries could experience crises and disruptions in supply, he believes. He also fears a price hike that could exceed the levels reached at the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in early 2022.

According to the union leader, the intensification and expansion of the war will inevitably lead to a surge in fuel prices, and the price of a liter of diesel in Morocco could exceed 15 dirhams and more, despite attempts by the United States and its allies to increase crude oil production, in order to favor supply over demand and control the rise in prices, to deprive Russia of the financing of the war against Ukraine, on the one hand, and to maintain an affordable gasoline price for the American consumer, on the other hand, to avoid repercussions on the upcoming American elections in November.

What the world is experiencing today, in terms of the use of force in international relations, the denial of the values of peace and tranquility, disruptions and wars, requires a positive and serious approach from Moroccan officials, stressed the secretary general of the National Petroleum and Gas Union, insisting on the need to increase the national reserves of petroleum energies and to return to oil refining.

For El Yamani, persisting in "violating the law on the constitution of legal reserves and being content with building empty tanks and erecting distribution stations at more than 80% in rural areas, as claimed by the Minister of Energy Transition, will serve no purpose and will not protect Morocco from the consequences of the wars breaking out in the oil and gas producing countries, as well as in the straits and passages through which the majority of global energy trade transits." He therefore calls on the Moroccan government to change its paradigm.