By Bisola Adeyemo
The fuel price adjustment in Namibia will see the prices of both petrol and diesel increase by 30 cents, starting from today, 6 October 2021.
The mines and energy ministry has announced the increment on Friday, saying petrol and diesel price adjustments bringing petrol to N$14.45 per litre and diesel to N$14.18, according to news central Africa.
The energy ministry’s spokesperson, Andreas Simon, said the decision was taken as a result of an under-recovery of 48.975 cents/litre recorded on petrol while 50ppm diesel recorded an under-recovery of 37.809 cents/litre.
He said, “Owing to a series of events, first of which was a hurricane storm in the Gulf of Mexico, then uncertainties around the outcome of Opec+ meetings, and lastly the looming global energy crunch, as China continues to grapple with energy supplies, as well as some countries in Europe.
“International prices for refined petroleum products have been fluctuating significantly during the period under review”
The average price of refined petrol per barrel increased by $3, from $82 in August to $85 in October, while the average price of refined diesel increased by $4, from $75 in August to $79 in September.
“The hurricane storm in the Gulf of Mexico has disrupted supply by damaging some of the oil facilities in that region. Moreover, OPEC-plus is still struggling to ramp up oil supply to agreed levels so as to match demand as the global market emerges from the Covid pandemic. This has left a shortage of supply in the market and increased the oil prices as a result,” Simon noted.
The local currency appreciated against the US dollar, from an average of N$14.77 in August to an average of N$14.42 in September 2021.
Simon explained, “This has helped keep the recorded under-recoveries lower than they would have been if it remained the same.”
Although the Namibia dollar slightly strengthened against the US dollar in September, global oil prices have risen and in recent weeks oil prices reached multi-year highs and the Namibia dollar’s strength was insufficient to avoid the price increase.
Petrol in Namibia is N$2.99 a litre cheaper, while diesel is N$0.63 a litre cheaper than in South Africa.
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