UAE Fuel Stations Resume Credit Card Payments

Fuel service stations across the UAE will start accepting credit and debit cards for all transactions including fuel sales from August 4, 2013.

The country-wide service stations of Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) and Emirates Petroleum Products Company (EPPCO) will resume accepting Visa and MasterCard credit/debit cards, while only the Dubai stations of Emirates General Petroleum Corporation (Emarat) will accept card payments following the suspension in 2007.

All fuel sales transactions via the cards will incur a service charge of Dhs2 while purchases from convenience stores in service stations will not be charged extra.

The decision to resume card facilities in fuel stations with a subcharge on card transactions for fuel purchases follows approvals from the Higher Committee for Consumer Protection at the UAE Ministry of Economy. The subcharge is expected to cover operational expenditure and connectivity expenses with card providers.

Previously, card payment services at fuel stations in Dubai and the Northern Emirates were suspended following a subcharges disagreement between the participating banks and companies.

The move comes at a time when the UAE’s banks are increasingly benefiting from consumer lending. Increased credit card spending and personal loans have caused many of the UAE banks’ second quarter profits to surge.

According to the latest central bank data, personal loans to UAE residents have risen by 3.8 per cent across the sector to Dhs270.7 billion between January and May.

Increased use of credit and debit cards in the UAE added $4.2 billion to the country’s GDP between 2008 to 2012, a recent study by Moody’s Analytics and Visa revealed.