Relief for motorists as fuel prices drop further
Motorists have a reason to smile to the pump after the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) announced a further drop in the prices of fuel.
According to the price review by Epra, the prices of Super Petrol and Diesel have decreased by Sh9.54 per litre and Sh 19.19 per litre respectively, while Kerosene is up by Sh2.49 a litre.
Super Petrol will now retail at Sh83.35 down from Sh92.87, Diesel Sh 78.68 down from Sh97.56 while Kerosene will retail at Sh79.75 up from Sh77.28 in April.
According to EPRA, the price of Kerosene has gone up because there was no Kerosene cargo discharged at the Mombasa port between April 10 to May 9, 2020.
“The changes in this month’s prices have been a consequence of the average landed cost of imported super petrol decreasing by 38.94 per cent from $309.03 per cubic metre in March to 188.07 per cubic metre in April,” said EPRA Director-General Pavel Oimeke.
The landing cost of diesel decreased by 44.04 per cent from $432.70 per cubic metre to $242.13 per cubic metre, according to the petroleum regulator.
The mean monthly US Dollar to Kenya Shilling exchange rate depreciated from Sh104.05 to the dollar in March to Sh106.83 to the dollar in April.
The new fuel prices will come into effect on Thursday at midnight until May 14 midnight.
The drop in prices comes days after the Energy Ministry rejected a petition by oil marketers for the exclusion of cheaper fuel in this week’s monthly review in a push aimed at denying motorists the benefits of low crude prices.
Marketers were pushing the energy regulator to base its Thursday review of retail fuel prices on the March crude cost of $35.58 a barrel and not the April average of $26.63, arguing that they were unable to sell 40 per cent of the expensive fuel due to Covid-19 restrictions.