Consumers of petrol and diesel should expect a further drop in price at the pump as the price of crude on the world market continue to fall, the Institute for Energy Security, predicts.
In its May, 2020 pricing window forecast, IES notes that going by the 13.05 percent reduction in price of Crude oil, combined with the 20.96 percent and 18.45 percent considerable fall in the prices of Gasoil and Gasoline respectively on the international market, it foresees prices of fuel on the local market losing stability in the first pricing-window of May, 2020.
“The expected fall in prices of fuels at the pump, takes into account the local currency’s marginal depreciation against the U.S. Dollar,” the statement noted.
Raymond Nuworkpor, Research & Policy Analyst at IES explained that data collated by IES Economic Desk from the Foreign Exchange market shows the Cedi depreciated by 1.07 percent against the U.S. Dollar, trading at an average price of GH¢5.69 to the U.S. Dollar over the period; a clear departure from the GH¢5.63 recorded in the first Pricing-window of April, 2020.
On the world market, Brent crude price remain largely around the US$25 per barrel mark for the Pricing-window under assessment but prices plummeted below US$20 on April 21, as the market reacted negatively towards an evaporating storage capacity as a result of cratering demand and unmanageable supply glut.
“Following this, Brent crude declined by 13.05 percent from US$29.88 per barrel recorded at the end of the first Pricing-window of April to close at US$25.98 per barrel on average terms at end of the second window,” Mr. Nuworkpor added.
He explained that S&P’s Platts benchmark for fuels shows average Gasoline price tumbled by 18.45 percent to close at US$140.25 per metric tonne, from a previous average of US$171.97 per metric tonne; while Gasoil declined by 20.96 percent to close trading at US$185.75 per metric tonne, from a previous average of US$235.00 per metric tonne.
On the local front, prices at the pump maintained some level of stability as only few but major Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) including Goil, Total Ghana, Puma and Petrosol shaved-off few Pesewas during the earlier Pricing-window under review as projected by the Institute for Energy Security (IES).
“Goil, Petrosol, Puma and Total Ghana trimmed their prices to sell at an average price of GH¢4.18 for Gasoil and Gasoline. However, the period saw most OMCs maintaining their prices at the pump to produce a national average price of GH¢4.12 for Gasoline and GH¢4.14 Gasoil.
Within the period under review, Santol, Benab Oil, Nick Petroleum, Frimps, Champion and Cash Oil, joined Zen Petroleum as OMCs that sold the least-priced Gasoline and Gasoil on the local market relative to others in the industry as found by IES Market-scan.”
