NAIROBI, KENYA: Consumers of Diesel and Kerosene will dig deeper into their pockets following Thursday's adjustment of the products by Sh4.57 and Sh3.56 per litre respectively.
In Nairobi Diesel will retail at Sh96.40 per litre while Kerosene will be sold at Sh87.12 per litre, Super Petrol will retail at Sh 106.99 its price having been adjusted by Sh0.17 per litre.
According to the Energy Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), the changes in this month’s prices are a consequence of the average landed cost of imported Super Petrol increasing by 1.51 per cent from US dollar318.71 per cubic metre in November last year to US dollar 323.52 per cubic metre in December last year.
Diesel increased by 13.05 per cent from US dollar 293.88 per cubic metre to US dollar 332.22 per cubic metre and Kerosene increased by 9.27 per cent from US dollar 277.27 per cubic metre to US dollar302.97 per cubic metre.
Over the same period, the mean monthly US dollar to Kenya Shilling exchange rate depreciated by 0.14 per cent from Sh110.36 per US dollar in November last year to Sh110.52 per dollar in December.
Meanwhile the Government is in yet another attempt to secure the supply of petroleum products in the country through strategic reserves of commonly used fuels.
The strategic petroleum stocks are expected to cushion the country from supply hiccups. Such hiccups have in the past caused supply disruptions including countrywide fuel outages that have been costly to Kenya’s economy.
The Petroleum and Mining Ministry recently published the draft Petroleum (Strategic Stocks) Regulations, 2020, that provide a plan on the setting up of the reserves.
The proposed subsidiary law currently up for public participation aims at ensuring the country has adequate petroleum products that can last for up to 15 days in the case of disruptions.
This is in addition to the minimum operational stocks that oil marketers are required to maintain, currently set at 30 days of sales for kerosene, 25 days for diesel and 20 days for super petrol.
Petroleum products that will be stored in strategic reserves are super petrol, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel and cooking gas.
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