Prices of petrol and diesel at the pumps have declined up to 12 per cent today, November 16, in the second pricing window for November, the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has disclosed.
At major oil marketing companies like Goil and TotalEnergies, diesel is sold at ¢20.25 per litre from its current average rate of ¢23.43. At the same time, petrol is ¢16.07 per litre from the current average rate of ¢17.42 per litre.
COPEC has attributed the decline to a drop in prices of petroleum products on the international market.
“Crude price benchmarks have recorded an increase of between $4 – $5/bbl from $91.86/barrel to $96.26/barrel whiles prices of petrol and diesel have both seen relative stability and decline respectively,” COPEC disclosed.
However, COPEC has projected an increment in Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices following an increment in LGP rates on the international market.
“International benchmarks for LPG have seen an increase of about $32 from $598.27 to $630.56; this could be expected to lead to an increase in retail price on current retail averages of 12.10/kg to a likely retail price of 13.51/kg,” Mr Duncan Amoah, Executive Secretary of COPEC, explained.
Fuel prices have shot up by at least 225 per cent since the year began, with analysts blaming the continuous rise on the persistent decline of the cedi against the dollar and unsteady prices of crude and finished petroleum products on the international market.
In January this year, petrol and diesel were trading at an average ¢6.9 and ¢7 per litre, respectively, at the local pumps.
In the second pricing window in October 2022, the prices of petroleum products went up on October 16, 2022, as part of the upward adjustments.
According to COPEC, the prices at the pumps nationwide increased by an average of 10% for petrol and diesel.
COPEC anticipated an average price escalation of about 10.12% for both petrol and diesel at the time, based on the increase in the price of crude oil on the international market and the depreciation of the cedi.
“Between the current window and the next window due, October 16 2022, Crude oil price is observed to have seen an increase of 3.66% from $89.46 to $92.73 per Barrel, whilst the Dollar index has further gone up by about 4.08% from GHS10.21 to GHS10.627 per Dollar as per Government rate (Conservative figures) though actual market rates are quite higher currently,” COPEC observed.