After announcing last month that the island was “closely monitoring the impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East on global oil markets”, the Minister of Home Affairs has directed the Regulatory Authority to cap Bermuda’s price of fuel until mid-October.

The order for a “standstill ceiling” based on “the retail price prevailing immediately”, was published on Wednesday in the Official Gazette, specifying that no “licensed importer, wholesaler or retailer” would be permitted to charge above the threshold, effective for the next six months.

The move is backed by the Fuels Act 2022, which extended the RA’s oversight to cover the fuel sector.

Alexa Lightbourne’s directive references a pledge by David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, to offset revenue shortfalls for importers with “targeted customs-duty relief”, meaning the Government would absorb the cost to stabilise prices.

The Retail Fuels (Consumer Protection Standstill) Ministerial Direction 2026 heads off an increase in retail fuel prices that would have otherwise taken effect today — when the RA’s proposed monthly adjustment would have raised prices by 11.1 cents per litre for gasoline, 15.3 cents per litre for diesel and 18.8 cents per litre for kerosene.

A ministry spokeswoman said global oil and petroleum markets were contending with “sustained volatility driven by the ongoing war in Ukraine, disruption to maritime shipping routes and the cumulative effects of climate-related supply shocks”.

She added that small island economies dependent on imports had fewer buffers than larger markets.

The island and its cost of living have dealt with more than four years of global instability affecting oil, with local efforts going back to February 2022, when Mr Burt set a cap on prices at the pump after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The RA sets the island’s Fuel Adjustment Rate every quarter based on changes in fuel price, which in turn set the cost of electricity for consumers.

Ms Lightbourne’s directive noted that the Transitional Fuels Pricing Interim General Determination 2025, imposed in February last year, had lapsed after its own six-month term.

The order cited the protection of public interests and said any upward adjustment to retail fuel prices would be “premature”.