Petroleum Pump Prices Revised – January 31, 2022

The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has reduced the pump price of petroleum products by K1.32/litre for Petrol and K1.22/litre for Diesel, which will now be sold as Low Sulphur Gasoil/Diesel, while the price of Kerosene remains unchanged.

This price review has been necessitated by the decision to migrate to a monthly pricing cycle which now entails that the local price of fuel is more responsive to the market fundamentals namely: international oil prices and the Kwacha/US Dollar exchange rate prevailing in the month preceding the pricing decision. In this regard, the reference prices for the January 2022 price adjustments have been based on the international oil prices (Platts reference) and exchange rate trend experienced in December 2021.

According to the market fundamentals for the month of December 2021, international oil prices for petrol and diesel recorded a notable decline, with the Kwacha also appreciating against the United States Dollar. Petrol prices declined by 11.56% from US$96.39/barrel recorded in October 2021 to US$85.25/barrel in December 2021 while Diesel prices also declined by 10.64%, from US$93.27/barrel to US$83.35/barrel.

Further, following Governments policy decision to place INDENI Refinery on care and maintenance, there will now only be one type of Diesel sold on the market, and that is the imported Low Sulphur Gasoil/Diesel. The ordinary Diesel that was previously produced by INDENI will no longer be available on the Zambian market, resulting in the pricing structure now only providing one price for Diesel.

With this change, the country is now compliant with international standards where only 50ppm sulphur content or less in Diesel (Low Sulphur Gasoil/Diesel) is available on the market, and that is consistent with what is prevailing in the SADC region and beyond.

Based on the January 2022 price review, fuel prices will now be as follows: