Vehicles line up at Total petrol station in Eldoret./ Consumption of petroleum products has continued to drop despite favourable pump prices occasioned by recent falling of global oil prices.
Month-on-month consumption of super petrol, diesel and Jet A1 has been on a fall since January, latest data by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) shows, with April being the most hit so far.
Jet A1 consumption, which is used in the aviation industry, has had the biggest dip falling by 85.6 per cent, as the ban on international commercial flight effected on the midnight of March 25 enters its third month this Thursday.
The products’ uptake was at 7,784 cubic meters in April, falling from 54,080 cubic meters in March when the ban was effected. It was at 79,070 cubic metres in January.
Domestic air travel also came to a halt with the cessation of movement into and out of the Nairobi Metropolitan area and Coastal counties of Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale in April, further reducing consumption.
Consumption of diesel, used widely in the transport, agriculture and manufacturing sectors, dropped 26.8 per cent to 162,479 cubic metres in April from 221,891 cubic metres in March. Its uptake was 224,897 cubic metres in January.
This was occasioned by among others, suspension of long-distance travel between Nairobi, Mombasa and other destinations and reduced manufacturing activities.
Super petrol mainly used by motorists equally had its uptake fall 26.4 per cent to 113,819 cubic metres from 154,672 cubic metres in March.
This is despite the product’s pump price falling to a low of Sh83.33 a litre in May-June before rising by Sh5.77 per litre in last week’s EPRA review, to retail at Sh89.10 a litre.
Its consumption was 171,342 cubic metrers in January.
Pump prices for diesel and kerosene, however, decreased by Sh3.80 and Sh17.31 per litre respectively, currently retailing at Sh74.57 and Sh62.46 a litre respectively.“The demand will remain low until the economy fully recovers from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,” EPRA director general Pavel Oimeke told the Star.“Consumption will be dependent on the country’s level of economic activity during and post the Covid-19 pandemic,”he added.Consumption of kerosene, used by poor households for lighting and cooking has however remained high, increasing by 11.3 per cent in April to 13,679 cubic metres from 12,291 cubic metres in March.It was at 13,636 cubic metres in January, EPRA data shows.Top industry consumers, according to the latest Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA) data […]
