Nana Amoasi VII, Executive Director, IES
Institute of Energy Security (IES) has projected an increase in diesel price by 1 % and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by 4% for the next two weeks ending September 2023.
“The impending increases are coming on the back of an upward adjustment in international market price of gasoil by 3.33% and LPG by 2.95%, coupled by a 0.97% depreciation of the Ghana cedi against the U.S. dollar on the foreign exchange market.
It, however, stated that the price of petrol is likely to remain unchanged during the second pricing window.
Touching on the performance of the cedi, the Institute Economic Desk’s analysis of the local currency data for the period on the foreign exchange (forex) market said the Ghana cedi depreciated by 0.97% after it traded against the U.S. dollar at ¢11.50 from a previous ¢11.39 at end of trade period under review.
It also stated that the Brent crude price also rose above $90 per barrel last two weeks and continued into last week, reaching its highest level in ten months.
According to IES, this comes after Saudi Arabia and Russia announced an extension of their production and export limits of one million barrels per day (bpd) and 300,000 bpd, respectively, through the end of 2023.
Monitored on a daily basis, the price of liquid petroleum fuels on the Ghanaian market recorded mix reactions from Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
Whereas some OMCs maintained prices, marginal increases were recorded among others in the first pricing-window of September 2023.
The increment averaged at ¢0.05 for diesel and ¢0.02 for diesel on the downstream petroleum market, while towards the end of the pricing-window under review, the IES monitoring of the market also revealed some OMCs run short of liquid fuels at some outlets visited.