Monday's hike in fuel prices in the country is directly linked to the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, an energy expert now says. Martin Chomba, Chairman of the Petroleum Outlets Association of Kenya, explained that Kenya's fuel is purchased using a weighted average system, meaning we are now paying for last month's price surge. "When there is geopolitical tension, especially in the Middle East, it strains the global supply and that spikes the prices…The way we buy fuel in Kenya, we use the weighted average.
In most cases, you will see that the fuel we will consume this month is the weighted average of last month.
We are paying for the spike that happened in June when the conflict happened," said Chomba, while on Spice FM on Wednesday, July 16. The tension he refers to is the conflict that erupted last month, when Israel launched surprise attacks on Iran's military and nuclear facilities amid the wider Gaza war.
Iran retaliated with missile strikes, further escalating instability in the Middle East, a key region for global oil supply.
