TIG Post

Tag: Ghana Petroleum Corporation

  • Fuel price hikes: Ghana owns only 18% of its crude oil produced daily – NPA

    Ghana owns only 27,000 barrels, representing 18 per cent of the 150,000 barrels of crude oil produced in the country daily.

    This is woefully less than the 96,000 barrels of crude oil the country consumes daily and does not have any significant influence on the continuous increase in prices of petroleum products locally.

    Mr Abass Tasunti, the Head of Economic Regulation, National Petroleum Authority (NPA), said global factors including geopolitics, wars, natural disasters and political unrest were affecting issues of demand and supply, creating shortages and directly influencing prices of petroleum products locally.

    “The price of petroleum products is not determined by crude oil only, but the price of the petroleum products is done through the formula and the key drivers of the prices of petroleum products is what happens on the World Market just like we are seeing right now including the shortage, supply and demand and these directly affect our prices here,” he said.

    Mr Tasunti was speaking in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, at a media engagement on the quality and pricing formula of petroleum products, organised by the NPA.

    Currently, petrol and diesel are on the average sold at some pump stations at GH₵10.10 and GH₵12.20 per litre, respectively and it was expected to increase in the coming days considering the sanctions on Russia which supplied about 40 per cent of the world crude oil.

    Mr Tasunti said the NPA was not responsible for the determination of prices of petroleum products and indicated that although the revenue accrued from the export of the 27,000 barrels of the crude could be used to cushion consumers in the form of subsidies, such a move was not sustainable.

    He said: “The job of the NPA as a regulator is to ensure that consumers and suppliers get value for money, so we do not determine the prices but make sure that the price is done according to the formula.”

    Mr Saeed Ubeidalah Kutia, the Head of Control, Quality Assurance Directorate, NPA, stated that Ghana had the highest standard of petroleum quality in West Africa and reiterated the commitment of the NPA to continue to deploy the Petroleum Products Marking Scheme to reduce adulteration of petroleum products.

    “For instance, before the PPMC commenced in 2013, a survey was done, and the adulteration level was around 35 per cent but immediately after the policy started the adulteration rate went down to around 1.89 per cent and currently we are doing around 1.59 per cent. It has never been 100 per cent anywhere but it is about keeping it as low as you can.

    He encouraged consumers to report to the Authority any suspected adulteration of petroleum products for investigation and action, adding that if it were established that that damage had been caused as a result of the adulteration, compensation would be paid to the victim.

    Mrs Alpha Welbeck, the Director, Economic Regulation and Planning, NPA, noted that the engagement with the media was to demystify the misconceptions surrounding the operations of the NPA, particularly regarding the quality and pricing of petroleum products.

    Mrs Welbeck said transparency was of importance to the Authority and noted that the move was to equip the media practitioners drawn from the Upper East Region to better educate the public on the causes of hikes in prices, deregulation and quality of petroleum products.

    Source: ghanaweb.com

  • Petrol, diesel, LPG prices to go up this week—COPEC, IES project

    Fuel prices are likely to up in the coming days following a surge in prices of finished petroleum products and crude on the international market, analysts have projected.

    In separate analysis of the May 2022 First Pricing Window (May 1 to May 15, 2022), the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) and the Institute for Energy Security (IES) projected that prices of petrol, diesel and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) would record a marginal increase on the local market this week.

    Currently, petrol is selling at an average GHS9.41 per litre, while diesel is pegged at GHS11.12 per litre an increase of 7.34 per cent from the previous average price of GHS 10.36 per litre.

    In its projections for the May 2022 Second Pricing Window (May 16 to May 31, 2022), COPEC projected that the prices of petrol would go up by 4.74 per cent to settle at GHS9.990 per litre whereas diesel would record a 1.08 per cent gain to settle at GHS11.35 per litre.

    The Chamber also projected that the price of LPG would also go up by 3.76 per cent to sell at GHS10.473/kg.

    “Considering no sudden jerks in Crude Oil pricing, that may lead to changes in Petrol, Diesel and LPG Prices on the international market, then the Ex-pump prices are expected to be within the projected figures to within one per cent,” it said.

    “The expected increase in fuel prices is primarily due to the fallen Dollar exchange rate and increase in prices of processed fuel ( Petrol, Diesel and LPG) on the international market with increase in Crude price by $3/barrel,” it added.

    Similarly, the IES projected that fuel prices would go up marginally at the pumps, but it did not indicate the rate of increment.

    In its review of the just-ended pricing window, the Institute said an increment in prices of finished petroleum products on the international market would trigger prices to rise locally for the rest of the month.

    The IES said though the cedi recorded some gains (appreciated by 0.28 per cent) against the US Dollar in the just-ended pricing window, prices of petrol, diesel and LPG may still see an upward adjustment, barring any intervention from the Government.

    “For the rest of May 2022, the 7.64 per cent rise in Gasoline price, 1.90 per cent rise in Gasoil price, and the 6.05 per cent rise in the price of LPG on the international market will push local market prices higher.

    “In IES’ estimation, the upward revision of Gasoline, Gasoil, and LPG prices may be significant, on the back of rising international fuel prices, and the growing pockets of fuel shortages across the country,” it said.

    There have been persistent calls on the Government to reduce taxes on petroleum products to cushion consumers against the surge in prices of petroleum products on the international market, which has a direct impact on local prices.

    The Government has dropped some margins on petroleum products, amounting to a reduction of 15p per litre but analysts say the reduction is insignificant given the rate of increment since the beginning of the year.

    Source: gna.org.gh