Petrol prices have dropped for a second time this year. Victor Besa / The National

The prices of petrol and diesel in the UAE will fall in April, it has been announced.

This is the second drop in petrol prices this year. Prices also fell in January due to lower oil and gas prices.

The breakdown in price per litre for April is as follows:

• Super 98: Dh3.01 — from Dh3.09 in March (down 2.58 per cent)

• Special 95: Dh2.90 — from Dh2.97 in March (down 2.35 per cent)

• Diesel: Dh3.03 — from Dh3.14 in March (down 3.5 per cent)

• E-plus 91: Dh2.82 — from Dh2.90 in March (down 2.75 per cent)

The UAE liberalised petrol prices in 2015 to allow rates to move in line with the market.

In 2020, prices were frozen by the Fuel Price Committee after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The controls were removed in March 2021 to reflect the movement of the market once again.

Brent crude, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, is down more than 7 per cent since the start of the year amid demand concerns.

However, the outlook for crude has improved after China, the world’s second-largest economy and top crude importer, reopened its economy following a strict zero-Covid policy for close to three years.

Earlier this month, Opec Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said he was “cautiously optimistic” about China's reopening but that a slowdown in the US and the EU could dampen crude demand this year.

“There is phenomenal demand growth in Asia [but] what concerns us more is actually the slowdown we see in Europe and the US in terms of the financial situation [and] the inflation,” Mr Al Ghais said at the CeraWeek energy conference in Houston.

In a recent report, Opec stuck to its 2023 growth forecast for oil demand despite expectations of lower crude demand from the West, as it said China's reopening had balanced the market.

However, crude demand growth has been adjusted lower in the current quarter and the next to account for an “expected slowdown” in economic activity in the Americas and Europe, the group said in its monthly oil market report this month.

Opec, which expects oil demand to grow by 2.3 million barrels per day this year, has estimated a 700,000 bpd rise in China’s crude consumption in 2023.

The oil producers' group said the world economy continued to face challenges ranging from elevated inflation to the Ukraine war.

On Friday, Brent was 0.66 per cent lower at $78.75 a barrel at 12.33pm UAE time while West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was down 0.65 per cent at $73.89 a barrel.