Energy fund will subsidise fuel costs by 50%

Fuel prices moved upward on the back of a depreciating South African rand. The cost of refined petroleum products in the markets from which Namibia sources its fuel soared, pushing up the landed cost in Walvis Bay. “Even if the prices remain fixed, the exchange rate would still have increased the price of fuel in Namibia Dollar terms and the subsequent cost of shipping fuel to Namibia” the Ministry of Mines and Energy said in a statement this week.

“Globally, the political landscapes in Libya, Syria and South Sudan are all holding up the market and the very mild weather observed in northwest Europe would have had a bigger impact. Oil production in Libya has fallen by almost a third from the 1.4million barrels per day produced in December to about 170,000 barrels a day last week because of labour unrest experienced at oil fields and ports,” the statement said.  Huge under-recoveries were experienced in the local fuel industry because of developments off-shore. The National Energy Fund was however be able to carry more than half of the fuel price increase. Fuel prices increased 25 cents across the board on 5 March 2014 bringing the cost of 95 Octane Unleaded Petrol to N$12.29 per litre, N$12.82 per litre for Diesel 500 ppm and N$ 2.92 per litre for Diesel 50 ppm.