By: OrePulse

Ghana's oil marketing companies held pump prices for petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas unchanged for the first pricing window of October, even though the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies had forecast increases across all three products.

The chamber had projected petrol prices would rise by 2.12% to 3.31%, diesel by 3.32% to 5.60% and LPG by 1.90% to 2.25%, citing a 19.42% increase in international crude oil costs. Despite those projections, leading retailers GOIL PLC and Star Oil Ghana both announced they would keep prices at September levels; neither company gave a public explanation for the decision.

Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, chief executive of the National Petroleum Authority, said the government had suspended a one-cedi-per-litre Energy Sector Levy on diesel for the month of October. "Diesel alone does about 250 million litres every month. That's GH¢250 million," he said, describing the scale of the levy suspension's cost to government revenue.

Tameklo said Tema Oil Refinery and Sentuo Oil Refinery had also agreed to hold their prices at September levels, helping keep retail prices steady despite the rise in international crude costs. He said the measures were intended to protect consumers from sudden price increases and avoid the kind of fuel queues seen in other countries.

The National Petroleum Authority's chief executive acknowledged that the government had not fully consulted the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies before taking the decision, saying the priority was protecting what he described as critical economic infrastructure.

The suspension of the diesel levy and the refineries' agreement to hold pricing mark a departure from the twice-monthly, formula-based adjustment Ghana normally applies to pump prices based on changes in international crude costs and the cedi's exchange rate.