Fuel prices to drop slightly – IES
The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has predicted a slip dip in the prices of fuel at the pumps within the second pricing window for the month of February, 2018.
IES said the forecast is based on “positive indicators recorded within the period under review [first pricing window]; being the stability of the local currency, the drop in crude oil prices and Gasoline and Gasoil prices”.
IES said it foresees “prices at the pump dropping slightly. However, prices may remain stable at the pumps if Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) decide to rake in some revenues as a result of recent sacrifices made”.
This was contained in a statement signed by Principal Research Analyst, Richmond Rockson, on Wednesday, 14 February 2018.
IES further admonished government to show commitment to the people of Ghana by scrapping the Special Petroleum Tax “in this era of high fuel prices, as a proposed 2% reduction will have no significant impact at the pumps”.
The institute indicated that government’s intervention through the National Petroleum Authority’s stabilisation mechanism is not enough as it failed to halt the upward review of prices in the last pricing window.
Total Petroleum was the first OMC to review prices upward from Ghs4.63 to Ghs4.69 for both Gasoline and Gasoil, an increase of 1.3%, before reducing prices to Ghs4.67 due to competition. The market recorded an increase of between 0.86% and 1.38%. The average pump prices for Gasoline and Gasoil is Ghs4.66.
IES Market scan shows the top 5 OMCs with the cheapest prices on the market being Zen Petroleum, Benab Oil, Pacific Oil, Lucky Oil and Frimps Oil.
The statement said within the last 14 days, Brent crude has seen a downward trend in price, falling from $69.57 per barrel to close trading at $67.25 per barrel; representing a change of 3.33%. Today, Brent crude is selling at $62.72 per barrel, a sharp decline as compared to prices recorded 4 weeks ago. Platts benchmark shows petroleum products are decreasing in prices, with Gasoline now averaging $656.45 per metric tonne, a 1.9 percentage change. Price per metric tonne for Gasoil reduced from $614.95 to $594.95, a change of 3.25%.
IES said the Ghana Cedi remained stable to the US Dollar within the period under review according to figures compiled from the foreign exchange market by IES Economic Desk.
The average selling rate of the US Dollar within the period is Ghs4.52. Between 1 February 2018, and 13th February 2018, total fuel imports amounts to 93,600 metric tonnes; 35,000 MT Gasoline, 37,000 MT Gasoil, 10,000MT Fuel Oil and 11,600MT LPG.
Source: ClassFMonline.com
