Petrol and diesel prices at Ghanaian pumps are expected to fall marginally from Friday, October 16, while liquefied petroleum gas jumps sharply, according to the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies’ pricing outlook for the next window. Petrol is projected to decline by almost 2 percent to GH¢17.67 per litre, diesel by 3.32 percent to GH¢19.30 per litre, and LPG to rise by 18.5 percent to GH¢20.60 per kilogram. The National Petroleum Authority has also cut the petrol price floor to GH¢16.09 per litre and the diesel floor to GH¢17.09, while raising the LPG floor to GH¢13.87 per kilogram, one outlet reported.
The chamber’s arithmetic explains the split. Average crude prices for the window rose 2.03 percent to $126.73 a barrel on renewed supply concerns, but refined product prices moved the other way for road fuels: diesel fell 6.68 percent and petrol 3.93 percent on international markets, while LPG rose 7.77 percent. Working against motorists, the cedi depreciated 1.61 percent to GH¢11.8222 per dollar over the September 26 to October 11 reference period, and has lost more than 11 percent this year, which the chamber linked to seasonal import demand and higher energy costs.
Most oil marketing companies held prices through the October 1 window after a GH¢2 per litre levy was applied to diesel and the government arranged for Tema Oil Refinery and Sentuo Oil to supply products at previous prices. That intervention blunted the pass-through then; the October 16 window lets part of the product price decline through for petrol and diesel while LPG users absorb the increase in full.
For households that cook with LPG, an 18.5 percent jump is the largest single fuel increase in the window and lands as Ghana’s inflation fight is already being tested by energy costs. Transport operators, by contrast, get modest relief on the fuel that drives food distribution costs.