A Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) report has revealed a decrease in oil prices ahead of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority's (EPRA) monthly fuel review.
In the April 4 report, the CBK bulletin noted that international oil prices had declined, with Murban Oil recording a $3.04 (Ksh399 in current exchange rates) drop per barrel from $74.90 (Ksh9,680 in current exchange rates) on March 27 to $71.86 (Ksh9,287 in current exchange rates) on April 3.
According to the bulletin, the drop raised concerns over global demand due to trade policy uncertainties and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) decision to increase production.
"International oil prices declined, with Murban oil trading at USD 71.86 (Ksh9,287 in current exchange rates) per barrel on April 3 from USD 74.90 (Ksh9,680 in current exchange rates) per barrel on March 27, reflecting concerns over global demand due to trade policy uncertainties, as well as the OPEC+ decision to increase production.
This report comes as Goldman Sachs has cut its oil price forecast for 2025 by 5.5 per cent for Brent crude and by 4.3 per cent for West Texas Intermediate.
This could see Brent Crude averaging $69 (Ksh8,918 in current exchange rates) per barrel this year and WTI averaging $66 (Ksh8,530 in current exchange rates) per barrel, a significant drop from how much Kenya buys its oil.
In the new government-to-government (G-to-G) deal with the Gulf countries, Kenya will purchase tonne of diesel from Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and Emirates National Oil Company at $78 (Ksh10,080.72)
This also represents an 11.3 percent drop from the current $88 (Ksh11,374 in current exchange rates), while petrol will cost $84 (Ksh10,857 in current exchange rates) instead of $90 (Ksh11,632 in current exchange rates).
This projection could mean that Kenyans will soon enjoy lower prices at the pump after the prices remained constant over the past two months.
On March 13, EPRA announced that the prices of Super Petrol, Diesel, and Kerosene would remain the same after the March fuel review.
These prices of petroleum products will be in force from March 15 to April 14 this year, but that is projected to drop as per the recent global oil prices.
Currently, the price of Super Petrol is Ksh176.58, Diesel costs Ksh167.06, while Kerosene goes for Ksh151.39 per litre.
