Promote 2019:

CSPH Explains Petroleum Prices Fixing

CSPH DG, Okie Johnson Ndoh, reassures Prime Minister Dion Ngute of a constant supply of petroleum products in the home market

Officials of the Hydrocarbons Prices Stabilization Fund, CSPH, on Wednesday 20 February, presented to the public the mechanisms used in fixing the prices of petroleum products (petrol, gas, kerosene and cooking gas) that is, from when the products leave the National Oil Refinery, Sonara, Limbe, to when they get to the filling stations throughout the country where they are pumped into the tanks of vehicles. This was at a media outing that CSPH organized during the 10-day Trade Fair, Promote that ended in Yaounde on Sunday 24 February.

                According to officials of CSPH, price fixing is a complex process that takes into consideration several instruments including equalization, regulation, stabilization and dialogue with social partners. But the factors that come into play in the price fixing process include the price on the international market, the price at Sonara, the cost of transportation to Douala for storage, as well as the cost of transportation to the final destination that is, at the filling stations in the different towns of the country.

                “The costs at all these individual stages are factored in the final price of the product at the pump,” explains Alain Pascal Ekollo, chief of service of prices at CSPH. He noted that to these costs are added taxes (VAT).

                The explanation by the service head for prices was buttressed by the General Manager of CSPH, Okie Johnson Ndoh, who revealed that the prices of petroleum products at the pump are not what they should be if other things were equal. Okie noted that the prices are made affordable to the average Cameroonian in Douala like in Kousseri, thanks the government’s policy of subvention.

                “The retail prices of petrol (Super), gasoil, kerosene and cooking gas are not what they should be if the government did not absorb some of the cost of making these products available to users. In fact, the prices at the pump are far lower than they should, and this is thanks to the huge subvention by the government,” said Okie Ndoh.

               

CSPH officials and staffers made a powerful presence at the Promote

Taking kerosene as example, Okie explained that its price at the pump – 350fcfa per litre, is actually subsidized to the tune of 172fcfa by government. This means that the real price at which kerosene should be sold at the pumping station is 522fcfa per litre.

                For Gasoil the difference between the pump price (575fcfa) and the real price (613fcfa) is 33fcfa, and this difference is borne by the state in the form of subvention.

                Okie Ndoh noted that cooking gas is the product most subsidized by the government. He revealed that for every bottle of cooking gas that is sold at 6500fcfa, the government subsidizes at least 5000fcfa. This means that the real price of gas should be 11,500fcfa.

                The CSPH DG noted that apart from government subventions, CSPH also bears the cost of transportation of fuel from the storage tanks in Douala to the various towns in the country.

                Okie Ndoh used the occasion of the Promote to edify the public on other missions of CSPH including ensuring a constant supply of petroleum products nationwide and at affordable prices and ensuring a healthy competition among economic operators in the sector. He said to carry out its missions, CSPH at times, constructs gas plants and filling stations in distant towns and localities considered not profitable for marketers.

                Okie noted that so far CSPH has built 20 filling stations nationwide at a total cost of over 8 billion fcfa.