Fuel prices have seen a marginal increase at the pumps as a litre of petrol which sold at GH¢12.65 is now selling at GH¢13.20 while diesel which retailed at GH¢12.84 is also selling at GH₵13.20.

The upward adjustment has been attributed to the increase in the price of crude which has gone up by about 16 percent on the international market.

Meanwhile, the Chamber for Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC) says a major option for government to alleviate the continuous price hikes of fuel is to make the Tema Oil Refinery functional.

TOR has remained non-operational for several years now due to a myriad of challenges.

The Executive Secretary for COPEC, Duncan Amoah stressed the need to revamp the refinery to ensure fuel price stability in the country.

“We are not exactly certain where we are going with our refinery [TOR]. It’s been one talk after the other, one promise after the other. The long and short however is that the refinery continues to be grounded. No activity, and nothing is working”.

“In view of the fact that you have some new refineries coming on the stream across the sub-region, one would have expected officials or authorities to be minded by the need to protect the technical workforce of our refinery by finding any means necessary to get TOR back to work. Unfortunately, it has not been the case,” Duncan Amoah expressed.

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) on April 15 backtracked on its decision to increase the Fuel Marking Margin (FMM) from 4 pesewas to 9 pesewas.

The NPA had earlier directed all Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) to implement the new rates and apply them in their Price Build-Ups (PBUS) from April 16, 2023.

However, in a recent statement, the regulator has withdrawn the increment, stating that the FMM will remain at 4 pesewas per litre until further notice.