July fuel prices to remain unchanged
The Ministry of Mines and Energy has announced that petrol prices and the prices of both diesel 50ppm and diesel 10ppm will remain unchanged throughout July.
According to the ministry, the prices of petrol in Walvis Bay will remain at N$19.78 per litre while the price of diesel 50ppm will remain at N$19.05 per litre, and that of diesel 10ppm will remain at N$19.25 per litre.
Explaining the reason for the unchanged fuel prices in a statement, the ministry said the prices of oil and natural gas spiked during the last week of June as the markets reacted to the recent political developments in the Russian Federation, which is the world’s second-largest exporter of oil.
“The markets are largely focused on whether the unexpected events in Moscow could disrupt global commodity suppliers. The current political development in Russia may contribute to further escalation in oil prices, which may influence global inflation coupled with the recent decision by OPEC to cut oil supply,” they added.
They further explained that Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s biggest producers of crude oil, has recently announced that it would cut oil output in July 2023 by 10% or 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from 10 million bpd to 19 million bpd and may extend cuts further if needed.
Elaborating on their latest calculations, the ministry indicated that the average price of unleaded petrol 95 over June 2023 is at US$95.402 per barrel, compared to US$92.321 per barrel at the end of May 2023, depicting a slight increase of about US$3 over the review period.
“The average price of diesel 50ppm over June 2023 is at US$89.007 per barrel, compared to US$85.767 per barrel at the end of May 2023, an increase of about US$4 per barrel over the review period. Moreover, the average price of diesel 10ppm over June 2023 is of US$90.931 per barrel, compared to US$87.362 per barrel at the end of May 2023, showing an increase of about US$3 per barrel over the review period,” they said.
Furthermore, the ministry said the exchange rate figures for the period of 1-26 June 2023 indicate that the Namibian Dollar has appreciated against the U.S Dollar at N$18.7278 per US Dollar, compared to N$19.0305 per US Dollar at the end of May 2023.
“Therefore, after entering the above input factors into the fuel pricing model, we recorded an under-recovery on petrol and over-recoveries on both the diesel products, that is an under-recover of 46c per litre on petrol and over-recoveries of 4c per litre on diesel 50ppm and that of 1c per litre on diesel 10ppm, respectively,” they concluded.
