The Institute for Energy Security, an energy think-tank in the Republic of Ghana, is predicting that fuel prices on the local market in the West African country will remain largely stable during the first pricing window in March.
The think-tank, in its analysis, pointed to relative stable prices of gasoline and gasoil on the international market, as well as the 1.32 percent upward reverse in price of International Benchmark – Brent Crude.
However, it said competition between Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to control and gain more market shares may result in selling price of fuel falling marginally within the first pricing-window of March 2020.
Oil prices reverse upward briefly within the second Pricing-window under review as implied demand destruction was less than expected.
However, oil prices fell on Friday, 21st of February, as OPEC+ decided not to move its March meeting forward while Russia indicated that it currently has no intentions to cut production further. Brent crude rallied marginally by 1.32% from $55.89 per barrel to close at $56.63 per barrel on average terms during the period under review
Fuel prices at the pump experienced reduction across some major Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) including Goil, Total Ghana and Zen Petroleum in the Pricing-window under review as projected by the Institute for Energy Security (IES).
While Goil and Total Ghana shaved-off 1.28% and 0.91% for Gasoil and Gasoline respectively, Zen Petroleum gave away a whopping 6% for Gasoline and Gasoil to sell at Gh¢4.92 per litre; thus making Zen petroleum the OMC with the least selling price.
However, the second Pricing-window of February 2020 saw some OMCs maintaining their prices at the pump to record a national average price of Gh¢5.41 and Gh¢5.40 for Gasoil and Gasoline respectively.
Within the period under review, 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.
S&P’s Platts benchmark for fuels shows average Gasoline price rallying by 0.51% to close at $539.50 per metric tonne, from a previous average of $536.77 per metric tonne; while Gasoil declined by 0.23% to close trading at $502.20 per metric tonne, from a previous average of $503.38 per metric tonne.
“Data collated by IES Economic Desk from the Foreign Exchange market shows the Cedi appreciated by 4.98% against the U.S. Dollar, trading at an average price of Gh¢5.34 to the U.S. Dollar over the period under review; from a previous rate of Gh¢5.62 recorded in the first Pricing-window of February, 2020. The positive relationship of the Ghana Cedi to the US Dollar can largely be attributable to less uncertainty and low demand for the US Dollar for business transaction in the Covid-19 stricken nation – China, the world largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity $27.309 trillion,” Raymond Nuworkpor, Research & Policy Analyst at IES said.