The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has revealed that it expects the prices of petrol, diesel and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to fall marginally again at the pumps from tomorrow, May 16, 2023, for the next 14 days.

According to the Institute, this is due to reduction in prices of finished products on the world market and the stability of the cedi. Owing to this, it explained that diesel, petrol and LPG are expected to sell at GHC12.30, GHC12.15 and GHC12.12 respectively.

“… Following the drop in prices of petroleum products on the international market, coupled with the strong performance of the Ghana Cedi, domestic prices for all petroleum products are projected to fall.
Institute for Energy Security

The IES revealed that its monitoring of prices over the past two weeks on the Global Standard & Poor (S&P) Platts platform indicate the prices of gasoline [petrol], gasoil [diesel], and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) decreased by 8.40%, 9.98%, and 13.43% respectively.

Additionally, it stated that the Ghana cedi also gained 0.17% against the US greenback currency, which has influenced the drop.

Commenting on the local fuel market performance the IES indicated that the first pricing window for May 2023 saw domestic prices of petrol, diesel and LPG fall. Also, it stated that the prices fell at an average of GHC0.50 for petrol and diesel, whilst LPG went down by GHC0.90.

Furthermore, the Institute highlighted that it’s monitoring of various Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) during the pricing window under review found the national average price per litre for petrol at GHC12.85, diesel at GHC12.80 and LPG at GHC13.46 per kilogram.

Earlier this month, the IES predicted that fuel prices may remain unchanged due to the depreciation in value of the Ghana cedi against the US dollar.

In its projection of petroleum prices for this pricing window, the energy think tank stated that data from the IES Economic Desk on the domestic foreign exchange (forex) market over the last two weeks showed the Ghana cedi closed trading at GHC12.01 to the US dollar, from GHC11.55 at the start of the window. This, it noted, led to a loss of about 3.98% in value.

Prior to this, the Institute predicted fuel prices to go up between 7% and 13% on February 1, 2023. It stated that domestic rise in fuel prices is attributed to the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi in the last couple of weeks, as well as the rising international fuel prices.

COPEC predicts drop in fuel prices

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has equally projected a decline in the prices of fuel in the second pricing window of May 2023.

COPEC’s projections indicate that the decline is a result of the decrease in the price of crude on the international market and stable to slightly declining forex rates. With this, petrol is expected to be sold at GH¢11.67 per litre from the current GH¢12.00.

“The following basic information forms the basis of projections for the coming window, that; Crude price has seen a decline from the mean price of $85.29/barrel to $76.64/barrel (-10.14%) whiles the forex or Dollar exchange rate has slightly decreased from a previous average of GHS12.0060 to GHS11.9963 (0.08%) per $1.
“The following shall be the predicted retail figures for Petroleum products; Petrol – GH¢11.67/L, Diesel GH¢11.51/L. Fuel prices in the first May pricing window were fairly stable.”
Chamber of Petroleum Consumers

Moreover, COPEC iterated that for the second pricing window of the month of May 2023 indications are that pump prices are likely to decline for fuel products across the country.