Consumers of gasoline and gasoil in the Republic of Ghana should be prepared to pay more for the commodity in the coming days.

According to the Institute for Energy Security (IES), prices of fuel is likely to witness about 1.5 percent increment.

Oil market leaders - GOIL, Shell (Vivo), and Total sell at GHc4.82 as at the closing of the 16th July.

Crude oil prices have seen a rise over the last couple of days.

At about 9:45 Friday, WTI was trading at US$40.59 while Brent was selling at US$43.15.

S&P’s Platts benchmark for fuels shows average gasoline price gained 5.59 percent to close at US$390.73 per metric tonne, from a previous average of US$370.05 per metric tonne.

Gasoil appreciated by 5.31 percent to close trading at US$361.80 per metric tonne, from a previous average of US$343.57 per metric tonne.

Data collated by IES Economic Desk from the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market shows the cedi remained largely stable in relation to the U.S. dollar, appreciating by 0.17 percent against the major trading currency for oil.

The cedi traded at an average price of GHc5.71 to the dollar over the period, a departure from the Gh¢5.72 recorded in the second pricing-window of June 2020.

“Going by the 3.68 percent surge in price of Brent crude oil, in addition to the 5.59 percent and 5.31 percent rise in the prices of gasoline and gasoil respectively on the international market; the Institute for Energy Security (IES) foresees prices of fuel on the domestic market going up marginally even though the cedi appreciated against the US dollar by 0.17 percent.

However, competition between Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to control and gain more market shares, and mounting pressure on the government to reduce prices of fuel may result in fuel prices remaining largely stable within the second pricing-window of July 2020,” a statement issued by IES said.