Some Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) yesterday started reducing prices of petroleum products at the pumps although the expected price reduction should have commenced from Saturday, April 1, 2023.
GOIL is now selling a litre of petrol at GH¢12.65 and diesel for GH¢12.84 pesewas respectively. Also, Star Oil is selling a litre of petrol at ¢11.69 and petrol ¢12.69 per litre.
The adjustment shows that petrol has declined by a little over 2 per cent, while diesel goes down by almost 5.0 per cent.
More OMCs are expected to cut fuel prices at the pumps in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distribution Companies is projecting more reductions of fuel prices at the pumps in the coming weeks if the cedi remains fairly stable against the dollar and the price of crude oil also stabilise on the international market.
The Institute for Energy Security (IES) earlier predicted that fuel prices will fall between 2 per cent and 9 per cent for the third consecutive time from April 1, 2023 with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) expected to witness its biggest decline in recent times.
According to the energy think tank, LPG will go down by about 9 per cent, whilst petrol and diesel will witness between 2 per cent and 5 per cent drop.
The institute attributed the drop to the stability of the cedi to the dollar and the easing of prices of finished products on the world market.
The institute is attributing the drop to the stability of the cedi to the dollar and the easing of prices of finished products on the world market.
“Fuel consumers must expect another round of fuel price drops in the coming days. The imminent price drop is a reflection of happenings on the world fuel market over the past two weeks which shows decline in prices of gasoline [petrol], Liquefied Petroleum Gas and some other finished products”, Nana Amoasi VII, Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security said.
“In the last 14 days, the price of gasoline [petrol] on the world market posted a drop of $21 per metric tonne. Gasoil [diesel] also dropped by roughly 3.6% from the previous price of $813 per metric tonne”, he added.
Nana Amoasi VII furthered that LPG is the product that posted the biggest drop in price over the last two weeks on the world market. The commodity’s price fell by a whopping $95 per metric tonne, about 15 per cent drop.
He concluded that Ghanaians should expect some relieve from the high fuel prices recorded in the past six months, noting “households that rely on LPG will be the most beneficiaries as the commodity may post a hefty drop in prices in the coming days”.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri