Petrol rates remain flat as weak shilling denies consumer benefits of lower prices

The cost of diesel will go down marginally over the next one month while super petrol will post a slight increase.
In its monthly price capping guide, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) said diesel prices will go down by Sh2.18 per litre.

It, however, increased the price of petrol to by 72 cents.

This will now push the retail price of super petrol to Sh107.27 per litre in Nairobi over the next one month up from Sh106.55. Diesel will retail at Sh92.91 per litre in Nairobi down from Sh95.09 previously.

The energy industry regulator also retained the price of kerosene at the same levels as set last month, noting that oil marketing companies did not pick any product over the last month.

This will mean kerosene price will remain at Sh83.73 per litre.

While prices of oil went down in September in comparison to August prices, the shilling weakened and contributed to the retention of the high pump prices locally.

Remains unchanged

In September, oil traded at Sh4,753 ($42.35) per barrel on average from Sh4,939 ($45.74) in August.

The shilling weakened against the dollar to Sh108.6, according to the data Epra used in computing prices. “The Free on Board (FOB) price of Murban crude oil lifted in September was posted at Sh4,753 ($42.35) per barrel, a decrease of 7.41 per cent from Sh4,939 ($45.74) per barrel in August 2020,” Epra said.

“Over the same period, the mean monthly dollar to shillings exchange rate depreciated by 0.62 per cent from Sh107.93 per US Dollar in August to Sh108.9 per US Dollar in September 2020.”

“The price of kerosene remains unchanged since no cargo was discharged at the port of Mombasa between September 10 and October 9, which is the pricing period defined by the Legal Notice No. 26 of 2012.”

Fuel prices went up at the beginning of this month after the Kenya Revenue Authority increased the excise duty charged on petroleum products.

Epra early this month increased the retail price of super petrol by Sh1 and while that of diesel and kerosene went up by 50 cents respectively.

The upward review of excise duty to account for inflation means the effective rate went up to Sh21.95 to Sh20.92 per litre of petrol and Sh11.37 for a litre of diesel and kerosene.