Epra in emergency supply as fuel demand rebounds

A pump attendant at a fuel station in Nyeri town on August 14, 2020. Petrol and diesel sales continued to recover in July with the easing of movement restrictions.

Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • The latest data from Epra also indicates that dealers sold 174 million litres of super petrol and 217 million litres of diesel, up from the 144 and 187 million litres sold last month.
  • Recovery of sales volumes and the emergency supply now makes for a market correction badly disrupted by the pandemic since March.

Petrol and diesel sales continued to recover in July with the easing of movement restrictions and revision of curfew hours giving motorists more hours on the road.

The rapid recovery from June caused supply constraints forcing the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority to seek emergency supply early this month to avert a crisis.

The volumes already factored in the current supply and, which were priced on August 14, saved the country from a potential shortage as demand for petrol and diesel, respectively, jumped 20 and 17 per cent in July.

The latest data from Epra also indicates that dealers sold 174 million litres of super petrol and 217 million litres of diesel, up from the 144 and 187 million litres sold last month.

Epra Acting Director-General Mueni Mutung’a said the drop in demand driven by Covid-19, resulted in lean import planning for May and June 2020 as oil marketers grappled with uncertainties in future demand.

A supply gap

“The demand improvement coincided with delivery of lean import volumes planned in April 2020 and hence causing a supply gap, more so for independent petroleum dealers, who buy from the open wholesale market.

“In order to bridge the gap, emergency tenders were called through the open tender system, thereby alleviating supply constraints earlier this month,” Ms Mutung’a said.

Independent dealers who supply far-flung areas with the critical commodity could not access the product from major firms that had insisted on selling it to them at retail rather than wholesale rates.

Recovery of sales volumes and the emergency supply now makes for a market correction badly disrupted by the pandemic since March.

Signal full recovery

Petrol sales actually surpassed the volumes recorded in January and February before the economy began to feel the effects of Covid-19 following measures to stem coronavirus spread.

The latest sales volumes signal full recovery for motor fuel sales since both recorded even higher volumes than were sold during a similar period last year.