Page 8 - AfrOil Week 01 2021

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

Ghanaian fuel prices to increase

by 2.8%, energy think tank says

GHANA THE Institute for Energy Security (IES) has said barrel, GNA reported.
fuel prices will surge by GHS0.18 per litre at the It noted further that US West Texas Interme-
pumps, a 2.8% increment at the pumps begin- diate (WTI) crude had also settled at 87 cents up,
ning over the weekend, Joy News reports. or at $76.08 per barrel.
This comes as local oil marketing compa- Prices of fuel in Ghana are deregulated. As
nies (OMCs) have started increasing prices of a result, conditions onthe international markets
petroleum products at various pumps across the affect prices at the pumps directly. However,
country. Moses believes that world pricing trends have
“For the January First Pricing Window, the not yet had a significant impact on the domestic
8.18% increase in the price of International market, owing to competition among OMCs.
Benchmark Brent crude, the 3.25% increase in “Because of competition, the OMCs have
the price of Gasoline, the 2.09% increase in gas- dropped their margins so they could sell more
oline price, the 0.5% depreciation of the (Ghana) volumes and still make some profit,” he was
cedi against the US dollar, and the introduction quoted as saying by the GNA.
of the PSRL(Price Stabilisation and Recovery Meanwhile, TotalEnergies (France) has
Levy), the Institute for Energy Security (IES) already increased its pump prices at its filling
projects for the price of fuel on the domestic stations in Ghana. Its outlets are now selling
market at the various pumps to increase by at diesel at GHS6.85 and GHS6.80 per litre respec-
least 18 (Ghana) pesewas, representing a 2.8% tively, which is more than 3% up. ™
increase,” the think tank said.
The price of fuel in Ghana experienced a
marginal decrease at the beginning of the sec-
ond pricing window at December 2021, which
subsequently saw OMCs reducing prices by
some 1.5% at the pumps.
In a comment to Ghana News Agency
(GNA), Fritz Moses, an IES research analyst,
said that this projection stemmed from the con-
sistent spike in crude prices on the international
market. In turn, he said, this rise also stemmed
from a rise in demand globally.
“Some OMC’s have already made some
upward adjustments and looking at the global
trend, we expect other OMCs to crease their
prices this week,” Moses told GNA.
Brent crude settled at $1.20 higher, or at
$78.98 per barrel, as of 5:00 p.m. on Monday,
January 3, after earlier going up to $79.05 a GOIL filling station in Accra (Photo: Wikimedia)

Court temporarily halts Shell’s exploration

campaign as environmental concerns rise

SOUTH AFRICA ENERGY giant Royal Dutch Shell has tempo- impact of Shell’s seismic campaign on local
rarily halted its exploration work along South wildlife and alleged in court that the company
Africa’s Wild Coast after a court directed the had failed to consult properly with shareholders.
company to suspend its seismic surveys. Seismic surveying is a process that uses com-
The ruling came after opponents of the pressed air to generate sound waves in order to
project continued to raise concerns about the collect data on what lies beneath the ocean floor.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 01 05•January•2022