Motorists to pay more for petrol

Nairobi motorists will pay Sh126.37 per litre for petrol after the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) increased prices by Sh3.56 per litre.

It is, however, a relief for Diesel and Kerosene consumers with prices unchanged. Diesel in Nairobi will, from midnight, retail at Sh107.66 per litre while Kerosene will be sold at Sh97.85 per litre.

In Mombasa, petrol will retail at Sh123.95 per litre while Diesel and Kerosene will go for Sh105.27 and Sh95.46 per litre respectively.

In a statement, EPRA said the average landed cost of imported petrol decreased by 0.57 per cent from US$491.50 per cubic metre in March 2021 to US$488.69 per cubic metre in April 2021.

Diesel decreased by 1.03 per cent from US$444.17 per cubic metre to US$439.60 per cubic metre and Kerosene increased by 2.01 per cent from US$421.90 per cubic metre to US$430.40 per cubic metre.

The free on board price of Murban crude oil lifted in April 2021 was posted at US$63.94 per barrel a decrease of 1.87 per cent from US$65.16 per barrel in March this year.

“Over the same period, the mean monthly US dollar to Kenya shilling exchange rate appreciated by 1.63 per cent from Sh109.63 per US Dollar in March 2021 to Sh107.84 per US dollar in April 2021,” noted Daniel Kiptoo, acting Director-General, EPRA.

Last month, the regulator bowed to pressure from the public to retain prices of fuel in the April-May adjustments. Prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene remained unchanged at Sh122.81 in Nairobi, diesel Sh107.66 and kerosene at Sh97.85 for the one month to May 14

When it retained April-May prices at the same level as March-April, Epra and  the Petroleum Ministry had brokered a deal with oil marketing companies to slash their margins. Thehe oil firms were later compensated by the National Treasury.

The companies took a Sh4.44 cut per litre of petrol. The cut was less on Kerosene at Sh3.47 and diesel at Sh2.28 per litre. In all, it is estimated that the total amount taken form the marketers was Sh1.34 billion.

While Treasury refunded the lost margins in the course of last month, there was an extra cost of Sh0.50 per litre of fuel, said to be the administrative cost of processing and disbursing the compensation to the oil marketing companies.

The marketers and the petroleum Ministry had at an April 15 meeting agreed that the Sh0.50 per litre was a prudent cost incurred in the delivery of petroleum products to Kenyans and would be recovered during the May-June pricing cycle

 “The administration fee incurred by cargo buyers during this process is considered a prudent cost and shall be included in the import cost build of the OTS cargoes to be considered in the May-June 2021 pricing cycle,” reads the minute of the meeting signed by Andrew Kamau PS Petroleum and Daniel Kiptoo acting chief executive Epra.