Aresep Looking Into State
Refinery's High Profits
The Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) -
regulator of public prices and services - announced yesterday that
it will be analyzing a reduction in gasoline prices due to the high
profits earned last year by the state refinery, theRefinadora
Costarricense de Petróleo (Recope).
Recope last year earned a profit of ¢80 billion colones, up from the
¢58.8 billion earned the year before.
According to tax records, Recope in 2008 paid a tax of ¢20 billion
colones on income, up from the ¢14.8 billion in 2007.
Álvaro Barrantes, Aresep's director de Energía, confirms that the
Aresep has asked the state refinery for details before it can decide
on fuel prices for April.
Barrantes said that the regulator will be taking a close look at the
numbers to determine what the decrease in fuel prices should be,
adding that a consumer price adjustment is warranted.
Barrantes did not say what the decrease would be, as it will only be
determined after they have had a close look at the Recope
information.
For the Aresep there are two possible explanations, one that fuel
prices were too high over the average cost, and second, the refinery
purposely set out to create profits to finance future investments
and to create equity.
For his part, the president of Recope, José León Desanti, said that
the refinery does not have profits, only reserves to purchase
product.
While the bickering of profits between the regulator and refinery,
the Aresep is processing a request by the refinery to raise gasoline
price by ¢54 colones for a litre of super and ¢48 for regular.
The current price of a litre of super is ¢432 colones, ¢426 for
regular and ¢430 for diesel.
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