Fuel prices remain unchanged for May

The Ministry of Mines and Energy recently announced in a statement that fuel pump prices for May will remain unchanged.
According to the statement, poor manufacturing data from China and Europe propelled low prices of crude oil per barrel for the month of April. As political tensions between Russia and Ukraine intensified however, the price of Brent crude climbed to above US$106 per barrel. Brent crude is the benchmark for Namibian-imported oil.
Operations in the Libyan port of Zawiya have returned to normal after protesters vacated the entrance, a situation that halted oil production in the country in the past month. The production of oil still remains, and that still underpins crude oil prices the statement read.

The South African rand was still under pressure in April and breached the NAD 10.60 mark against the US dollar in which crude oil is priced. The mark is favourable as compared to the previous month. The consequences of the factors were minimal on petrol in terms of under-recoveries, and favourable on diesel which pulled through with substantial over-recoveries, the statement read. The Ministry will embark on a fuel marking project to authenticate the fuel that comes into the country for domestic consumption and the fuel in transit to neighbouring countries. It will seek to verify actual volumes of fuel sold for domestic consumption against the volumes imported from which the customs and excise duties are collected. In order to fund the project, a 2 cent per litre increase in the NEF levy is granted effective 7 May 2014 according to the statement.
According to the statement, the latest Petroleum Activities Return report indicated that oil companies were not getting significant returns on their investments in the petroleum sector, and that there was a need to adjust their margins to encourage further investment in the years ahead. Oil companies have therefore, effective 7 May 2014, been granted a 10 cent per litre increase in the industry (profit) margin.
Walvis Bay pump prices will thus remain unchanged at N$12.29 per litre for 95 Octane Unleaded Petrol, N$12.82 per litre for Diesel 500ppm, and N$12.92 per litre for Diesel 50ppm. Furthermore, pump prices at various inland destinations will also remain unchanged the statement concluded.