Gas prices have been impacted by Ukraine's successful attacks on Russian oil infrastructure and by Russia's own production and export restrictions, Tuesday's "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

Last week, gasoline 95 cost €1.7 per liter, but it had risen to €1.8 on Monday – the highest since September. Today, the price has fallen by one or two cents depending on the retailer.

Fuel sellers said oil prices are to blame. Since mid-March, the price of Brent crude oil has risen from $82 to $86 per barrel.

"The price of fuel is very much dependent on world market prices, but this has been on an upward trend for a long time. In fact, it has made its way to the retail prices, i.e. to the stations. A few weeks ago this change would have already taken place at the station," said Polina Tkatšuk, head of Neste Estonia's retail sales.

Approximately 5 percent of the EU's fuel comes from Russia, so events in the country affect prices in Europe.

"This rise in oil prices was actually quite logical, if you look now at our eastern neighbor Russia and what is happening with the oil refineries. Ukraine is bombing them. Obviously, putting a hole in the barrel does not bring the price down," LHV analyst Triinu Tapver said.

However, the price would have risen even without these recent attacks.

"In a sense, Russia itself is adding fuel to the fire of this price increase. This may be their own motivation for ordering their companies to cut production in the second quarter and towards the end of the year," Tapver said.

At the same time, Russia has imposed an export ban on gasoline in an attempt to control high inflation in a situation where a weak ruble encourages fuel exports.

"If we look at the jump in the world market for gasoline, the background here is the export ban that came into force on March 1. Gasoline will no longer be exported from Russia. Even though it did not reach the EU, it has an impact on the price of the whole world market," said Tarmo Kärsna, area manager of Alexela's energy sales.

The price of oil will probably not change much in the near future.

"As oil stocks are at a relatively good level, they are not at a very low level in other producing countries either, so there cannot be a very big shift to higher oil prices. Probably it will stay at US$85 a barrel," Tapver went on.

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