Having dropped from their record highs reached in April, gasoline prices at the pump in early July were 0.5 litas lower than they are now.
"I don't want to believe that fuel prices will climb above April's highs, because the situation in the oil market is not that difficult. The supply and demand are quite balanced," the paper quotes Tadas Povilauskas, a Finasta analyst.
The analyst said that prices are being inflated by expectations over the European Central Bank's steps to keep the economy growing, as well as in anticipation of the US Federal Reserve's decisions. Besides, crude production in the North Sea has been declining at a fast rate.
Another unpleasant trend is that Urals crude oil prices have been rising more rapidly than Brent prices. Orlen Lietuva, Lithuania's sole oil refinery, processes Urals crude.
