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Price Review for Oil Requested in Ghana

The Association of Oil Marketing Companies of Ghana (AOMCs) has called for an increase in the prices of petroleum products in the country to reflect the soaring crude oil prices on the international market. Oil prices hit the oil-time high of $74 a barrel last week, mostly on fears intertwined with international tension over Iran`s nuclear program (Iran is the fourth largest oil supplier in the world) and the potential disruption of oil from certain other African countries.

According to the AOMCs, although companies are holding some old stocks, a price increase is undoubtedly necessary to avoid distortions in the new consignment of what is seen worldwide as essential product. Official sources are looking at a 10 percent price increase. Prices are driven much by demand, and increased prices in the United States have been matched by ever-growing demand for oil in a China seeing an economy grow by leaps and bounds compared to years earlier.

Kwame Antwi-Agyei, industry co-ordinator for AOMCs, said the price review was necessary to prevent the oil market companies of Ghana from pushing their losses onto the government. Prices of petroleum products are fixed by the state-appointed National Petroleum Authority (NPA) in Ghana, but the AOMCs has always argued that market forces should determine the prices.