MOSCOW, May 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s retail gasoline prices went up by 1.5% in March 2014, the State Statistics Service says, adding that petrol prices have picked up 1.8% as of April 1 since the beginning of the year. The year-on-year hike in gasoline prices made up 5.4% in March.

The Statistics Service registered growth of consumer gasoline prices in March on February in 75 regions of the Russian Federation. Seven regions reported no changes in the petrol prices. In addition, the Magadan region reported 0.3% decline in the gasoline prices in the period under review.

In March 2014, gasoline retail prices grew 0.9% in Moscow and 1.6% in St. Petersburg.

In the designated period, gasoline producers raised their prices by 5.8% on average as against the level of February. The hike in the gasoline prices was registered in 18 regions of Russia — from 0.6% in the Sakhalin Region to 25.7% in the Tyumen Region. Gasoline producers of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) kept their prices at the level of February 2014.

In March 2014, consumer prices of gasoline of various blends exceeded the producers’ prices by 90-120% on average across the country (in March 2013, the gap was at 100-150%).

The producers’ prices for oil extracted in March increased by 8.1% (8.4% since the beginning of the year), while oil transportation tariffs edged up by 0.1% (0.6% since the beginning of 2014).

In the month under review, the ratio of gasoline producers’ prices and oil prices amounted to 80%, which equals to 2013 figures (1.8 times).

The ratio of the domestic oil prices and its level on the global market totaled 42.5% in March 2014 (versus 44.7% in March 2013).