(Ecofin Agency) - The Kenyan Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in its latest price review which will take effect from August 15 till September 14, increased the maximum retail prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene in the country.

The price of petrol is now at Sh95.13 in the capital, Nairobi, while diesel and kerosene is at Sh 84.51 and Sh 62.48 per litre respectively.

“Taking into account the weighted average cost of imported refined petroleum products, the maximum allowed petroleum pump prices in Nairobi are as follows: super petrol increases by Sh2.2 per litre, diesel increases by Sh1.27 per litre while kerosene increases by Sh1.03 per litre,” ERC said.

According to ERC, the increase is as a result of the delay in the delivery of cheaper products, as the granting of tender and the delivery of the products takes 30 to 45 days.

Aside the late delivery, the increase is also caused by the weakening of the shilling by 0.19% against the dollar to 101.39 units.

“The free on board (FOB) price of Murban crude oil lifted in July was posted at $44 (Sh4,444) per barrel, a decrease of 9.07 per cent from $49.05 (Sh4,954) per barrel in June 2016. However, due to the time lag of 30-45 days between order placement and delivery, a majority of the cargoes that have been used in this month’s pump price computation were June cargoes,” the regulator said.

Kenya imports its petroleum products through the Open Tender System. Under this system, an oil marketer is granted the contract to ship in the product in a competitive bidding process.

ERC said the cost per tonne of petrol increased by 3.31% to $521.72, diesel by 3.18% to $469.1 and kerosene by 2.86% to $493.86, Daily Nation reports.

Anita Fatunji