Kenyans are expecting the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) to take cues from its neighbour, the Tanzanian Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA), which decreased the prices of petroleum products by 1.07 per cent in its latest review.
EWURA Director General James Mwainyekule, this past week, revealed that motorists would now pay Ksh192 (Tsh3,051) for a litre of petrol and Ksh191 (Tsh3,029) for diesel, as compared to a litre of petrol which fetched for Ksh194.81 (Tsh3,084) while that of diesel retailed at Ksh194.43 (Tsh3,078) last month.
The decline, according to Mwainyekule, was attributed to a drop in the international oil market prices, with petrol falling by 10.66 per cent, diesel by 11.20 per cent and kerosene by 5.82 per cent.
“This decrease in prices is due to the decrease as a result of the drop in oil import costs at the port of Dar es Salaam by an average of 9.69 per cent for diesel and 1.82 per cent for kerosene,” Mwainyekule stated.
He added that the cost of importing petrol and diesel to the Ports of Tanga and Mtwara had also drastically decreased by 0.69 and 11.93 per cent respectively.
"Ewura will continue to encourage competition by providing limited price information for fuel products," he stated, assuring oil companies that they are allowed to sell fuel products at competitive prices as long as the cost doesn't exceed the price cap in line with the EWURA Price Setting Rules of 2022.
The announcement by Tanzania's Petroleum Authority comes days before EPRA is expected to issue its latest fuel review.
In the last update issued in January, Super Petrol decreased by Ksh5, Diesel by Ksh5 and Kerosene by Ksh4.82 per litre. This means that the prices for Super Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene in Nairobi go for Ksh207.36, Ksh196.47 and Ksh194.23 respectively.
At the time, EPRA Director General Daniel Kiptoo explained that the price of diesel had been cross-subsidised with that of super petrol.
"Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) will be compensated for the under-recovery costs from the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) Fund," he stated.
With the decline in oil prices globally, Kenyans are anticipating EPRA to follow suit and decrease the prices below the Ksh200 mark on Wednesday, February 14.
In the past months, Kenyans living near the border have largely preferred to purchase fuel in the neighbouring countries due to their cheaper prices.
