Government insists: Portuguese must “do everything” to save fuel

AND. statements to journalists in the margins of a meeting of the Ministers for the Economy of the European Union (EU), in Brussels, Manuel Castro Almeida stressed that there is currently a “serious problem with energy prices around the world” and, “as always happens, the higher the demand, prices tend to increase, if demand falls, prices tend to decrease”.

“ So, the fewer fuels are consumed, the more this makes it easier to lower prices. For the time being, we are dependent on individual decisions of families, people, companies, who have to do everything to avoid consumption as a way of lowering prices“, appealed.

Faced with the fact that there are people who have no alternative to fuel use, the minister replied: “We are all realistic.”.

“ If there is no alternative, there is no alternative, but if there is an alternative, the advice we give is that people try to consume less if they can choose. If there is no choice, there is nothing to do ", said.

Asked whether the current increase in fuel prices is no longer due to a lack of supply – caused by the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Ormuz – than to an increase in demand, Castro Almeida countered that price changes always depend on supply and demand.

In the case of the current increase in fuel prices, the minister acknowledged that there is currently less supply, but, “in Portugal, there has recently been more demand.”.

“Now if there is less supply around the world, but if the demand decreases too, it reflects prices. Prices are always a result of supply and demand. There is less supply, so it would be normal, it would be desirable for there to be less demand, less consumption,” he said, reinforcing that, “if there is less supply and consumption remains, inevitably prices will rise.”.

“Therefore, it is reasonable to recommend people to avoid all unnecessary consumption,” he said.

Asked if the government has not prepared a contingency plan, Castro Almeida considered that “it is not worth scaring people” and again appealed to each citizen to reflect on their fuel consumption.

“ People must assume, in their reflections at home, how we can avoid unnecessary gas costs. Those who are inevitable are inevitable. If they are avoidable, we will avoid them as a way of lowering prices. This is the best contingency plan: put in the hands of the Portuguese conscience. We hope that is enough”, he said.

This Monday, Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, had already warned that fuel consumption has been rising “high values” and defended that it is necessary to save, considering that support should be channeled to those who need it.

Already on Wednesday, the governor assured that Portugal “is doing very well” as regards fuel reserves, dispelling alarms about its scarcity at a time when in France there are places with some products missing.

“ We're very well on our reserves. In general, in liquid fuels, we have 92 days, the recommended is 90. In the ‘jet fuel’, we had a 3% increase in consumption by the end of August, but we managed to have 18% more reserves,” the Environment Minister said in the margins of signing a protocol between the Almada City Council and EPAL.