As the price of Brent crude oil continues to surge on the international market, hitting US$86 per barrel as of January 17, 2021, the government is being urged to use the extra income it is making from selling Ghana’s oil to cushion Ghanaians at the pumps.
In the 2022 budget, the government pegged a barrel of crude oil at a little over US$61, but over the past two weeks, Brent Crude Oil has moved from about US$77 to over US$80 per barrel.
The current price surge shows that the government is making extra income on the sale of Ghana’s crude oil.
Speaking to Citi Business News on the recent price hikes, the Chairman of the oil and gas sector with the Association of Ghana Industries, Kwame Jantuah said the government must use this windfall to cushion citizens.
“In Ghana today, we are getting towards stranded oil fields because we haven’t explored in quite some time. What we are exporting today, if, let’s say, we get it at US$80 to US$90, that means it goes up. That means the government is going to have a windfall. When we have a windfall, how about we use it? Can we use part of that windfall to cushion petrol prices? As prices go up, how do we cushion oil prices because it’s going to have an effect on us,” he questioned.
Checks by Citi Business News as of 9 pm on Sunday, January 16, 2022, showed that while a litre of petrol and diesel was going for GH¢ 6.50 at Goil, Shell was selling both at GH¢ 6.80.
Total, however, was selling a litre of petrol at Gh¢ 6.99 and a litre of diesel at Gh¢ 7.05.
The development is expected to, in the coming weeks, spur other smaller OMCs to also adjust their prices upwards.
