Fuel prices: Diesel up, petrol down

The price of diesel has increased by 1.63 per cent at the pump whereas that of petrol has decreased by 1.13 per cent, the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers-Ghana (COPEC-Ghana), has said.

A statement signed by Duncan Amoah, Executive Secretary of COPEC-Ghana on Monday, 2 October, said: “The first pricing-window for the month of October 2017 commenced yesterday in line with the National Petroleum Authority’s bi-weekly pricing arrangements under the deregulated pricing programme. The past window in September saw most Oil Marketing Companies increase prices for both Petrol and Diesel by some 7% and 5%, respectively. This saw the previous pump price that was trading at Ghc4.13/litre for both petrol and diesel move up to averages of Ghc4.41/ litre and Ghc4.29/litre, respectively.

“Price movements of finished products on Platt over the past two weeks saw prices of AGO or diesel increase by around $22/metric while PMS or Petrol came down by around $37/metric representing about 14p variance across the board on the two major products.

“While some of the major players have already effected the changes at the pumps, other players are briskly contemplating maintaining prices at old levels of 4.41/litre for petrol and 4.29/litre for diesel to knock out the effects on the international market but our checks further indicate those who already effected adjustments have already increased pump prices for diesel from 4.29/litre to 4.36/litre for same representing about 1.587%, while PMS or Petrol has gone down from 4.41 to 4.36/litre representing some 1.13% on old pump prices.

“The trend on the international market is far from pointing to stable prices in the weeks ahead as premiums and freight seem to be on the increase in the last few days and could eventually see importers pushed to increase ex-refinery prices further in the coming weeks if the Government does not put in place any mitigation measures to forestall the current trend.”

The statement added: “We take this opportunity to reiterate our earlier calls for a holistic look at the current pricing template or price build-up as some of the rising taxes are equally contributing grossly to the adjustments in pump prices Ghanaian consumers are currently grappling with on regular basis.

“Our recommendations in our petition to the President, H.E Nana Aldo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last Friday the 29th of September 2017, vividly captures and explains the various components of the pricing template together with some recommendations on some of the taxes, levies and margins on petroleum products across the country.

“It is our firm belief and hope that the Government will act on the petition in the shortest possible time and take practical steps to arrest and stabilise the increasing spate of rises in pump prices as we believe the huge revenue losses being recorded in the petroleum downstream sector system, if curtailed can rake in more revenue for the government than leaving taxes at current levels.

“We further encourage the government to step in and resolve whatever contractual issues and arrangements at BOST with TSL, to forestall the current visibility issues that make BOST itself unable to account for its own products in-tank as we believe this easily creates room for product diversions whose losses over the period, if quantified, will be in several millions to both the government and the tax payer with the current impasse.

“We continue to monitor the pumps daily and will not hesitate expressing our frustrations through other mass civil actions and protests together with other important stakeholders across the country if the current attempts at rationalising and justifying the recent trend continues.”