The prices of petrol and diesel will continue retailing at an all-time high after the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) made a marginal pump prices reduction with Super Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene decreasing by Sh5 per litre, Sh 2 per litre and Sh 4.01 per litre respectively.
Effectively, this means that a litre of petrol, diesel, and kerosene will now retail at Sh212.36, Sh201.47, and Sh199.05 in Nairobi, the highest fuel prices in the East and Central Africa.
The high cost of fuel products is attributed to multiple levies pegged on the precious commodity.
EPRA said it calculated the new retail prices of petroleum products which will be in force from December 15, 2023 to January 14, 2024 in accordance with Section 101(y) of the Petroleum Act 2019 and Legal Notice No.192 of 2022.
EPRA said the prices are inclusive of the 16 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) in line with the provisions of the Finance Act 2023, the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2020 and the revised rates for excise duty adjusted for inflation as per Legal Notice No. 194 of 2020.
“The average landed cost of imported Super Petrol decreased by 16.11 per cent from US$827.75 per cubic metre in October 2023 to US$694.44 per cubic metre in November 2023; Diesel decreased by 5.43 per cent from US$873.42 per cubic metre to US$826.01 per cubic metre while Kerosene decreased by 6.63 per cent from US$813.90 per cubic metre to US$759.93 per cubic metre.” EPRA said yesterday.
The energy regulator explained that the country imports all its petroleum product requirements in refined form. It noted that a pricing benchmark provided by S&P Global Platts provides a basis for the prices.
To further cushion the economy, EPRA explained it cross-subsidized diesel with Super Petrol adding that the government had opted to stabilize the resultant diesel price.
“Government through the National Treasury has identified resources within the current resource envelope to compensate Oil Marketing Companies.” EPRA added.
