March 29, 2024

September’s first pricing window has revealed that gasoline and gas-oil remained steady at GH¢4.90 and GH¢4.93, respectively, but with strict sanctions imposed on Iran from the United States, and a depreciating cedi, average brent crude prices swelled nearly four dollars from $73.03 to $77.52.

These factors could mean a sharp incline for the price of gas at the pumps, according to the Institute of Energy Security (IES).

Currently, one dollar sells for GH ¢4.95. In just two weeks, the local currency depreciated 3.03% against the US dollar.

According to IES’ Economic Desk, challenges with gas product transfers slowed down discharge schedules in the country. As it stands, Ghana has received 12,000 metric tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 21,300 metric tonnes of gasoline and 30,000 metric tonnes of gasoil.

Fraga, Benab, Frimps Oil, Zen Petroleum, Lucky Oil and Alinco Oil currently sell the lowest-prices oil, an IES market scan shows.

Standard and Poor’s Platts benchmark also show that gasoline trades at $747.23 per metric tonne. That’s up from the previous price of $735.18 per metric tonne.

“Every single indicator IES examined is pointing to an increment in local fuel prices for September 2nd Pricing-window,” says Mikdad Mohammed, a research analyst at IES, in a statement.

Mohammed continued: “While it remains a viable possibility that competition over market volumes could see some OMCs keep prices stable, the Institute projects that fuel prices will cross GH¢5 per litre.”

The IES proposes that the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) scrap the Special Petroleum Tax in the Price Build Up (PBU) to “provide relief to the Ghanaian public.”

Their records show that the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (PSRL) under the current NPA administration has been ineffective in stabilizing gas prices.

Source: Myjoyonline

About Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *