The Executive Secretary of COPEC, Mr. Duncan Amoah has appealed to the government to reduce the prices of fuel.

According to him, crude on the world market has become drastically low that some countries are even recording negatives in the pricing of crude.

Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' program, he explained that the prices of crude around the world have generally come down and that other countries around the world are selling fuel at a relatively cheaper price for consumers.

He said importers of crude are even paying off vessels to find other destinations for crude they themselves have imported for refinery because there is no storage place for them.

"So the government should just take advantage of the situation and reduce prices further to give drivers and consumers some respite in this COVID-19 period," he added.

Institute for Energy Security (IES) has forecasted that Ghana might lose out on its projected oil revenue generation following the recent drop of crude oil prices on the international market that plummeted around 30 percent.

Earlier, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in his 2020 Budget statement projected Ghana’s oil revenue at US$8.9 billion from about 13 percent of total revenue and grants.

“Government’s projected revenue was around US$58.66 per barrel and what it means is that if the prices of oil stay around the region of US$30 per barrel till the end of the year, then there’ll be a squeeze in the revenue of the government. The government is expected to get some petroleum receipts of about US$1.2 billion for this year.

“But if prices should stay around the US$30 mark, then the government is less likely to get half of the revenue that is projected. Already, we’ve seen Tullow cut back it’s production. So aside from the international fall in crude oil price that we have to match within selling our own bit of oil that we get as a country, production is also falling in our own shores,” he said.

“Ghana risks losing out on two fronts particularly; one from the fall in projected oil revenue and also the possibility of much lower fuel prices at the pumps across the country. The most important thing is that this is going to impact us negatively,” the Finance Minister added.

“The prices will still remain the same so and I’m not sure that we will see a fuel price reduction at the pumps anytime soon and in the worst-case scenario, it’s going to stay the same or we’d see a marginal reduction but not a substantial one to match with the international fall in the price of crude and fuel prices."

Source: peacefmonline.com