Slight rise in fuel prices: ICCC

PRICES of the three petroleum products have increased slightly this month, the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) said.
ICCC commissioner and CEO, Thomas Abe, in a statement yesterday said that import parity price for petrol for this month had gone up by five toea per litre from K1.54 to K1.59; diesel up by 6t from K1.60 to K1.66 and kerosene  increased by 7t from K1.57 to K1.64.
Consequently, the retail pump prices in Port Moresby starting today will be: petrol K3.06 per litre, diesel K2.54 and kerosene K2.45.
“Crude oil prices have again increased significantly by 16.28% in November compared to October’s average of 3.64% on a monthly average,” Mr Abe said.
“This increase coupled with other factors affecting the product prices ex Singapore caused the product prices to increase …”
Despite the crude oil prices increase, the stronger kina in October had helped ease the pressure on the final retail prices, he said.
Mr Abe said the Commission also monitored domestic sea and road freight rates as set by the oil distributors to ensure that the rates were reflective of the efficient costs of transporting petroleum products within PNG.
“The freights rate for this month will remain unchanged to those of last month,” he said.
Retail prices at all other designated centers will change depending on the applicable in-country shipping and road freight rates charged by the oil distributors.