Butane, gasoline prices climb

New prices for butane gas have been announced effective today for consumers nationwide. The increased rates, which range from a low of sixty-six dollars per one hundred pound cylinder in Dangriga, to a high of seventy-two dollars in Benque Viejo, are the result of increased acquisition costs for the imported fuel. Those new global realities were first felt on New Year’s eve at the gas pump when the crisis in Venezuela led to price hikes of as much as twenty-six cents per gallon. Current prices for premium in Belize City stand at six ninety-five, regular is six seventy-five, diesel is four ninety-five and kerosene stands at a record high of four twenty-two. The immediate future does not appear bright for motorists as the Venezuelan strike remains unresolved and the United States edges steadily toward an attack on Iraq.