By Jomo Paul
[www.inewsguyana.com] – With the recent decrease in the price for fuel on the world market, Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) is set to spend some US$70M on fuel for its generating plants this year.
This was confirmed by Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Aeshwar Deonarine at a GPL press conference on Tuesday, February 10.
He said that for 2015, GPL has projected that it will spend about US$70M on fuel at the price of US$70 per barrel since the company utilizes about one million barrels of fuel per annum.
It was noted however that GPL spent less on fuel last year than it had expected. The company had projected to spend close to US$120M on the precious commodity but only spent US$100M.
The government recently announced a 30% drop in fuel prices with gasoline now being sold at $695 per gallon, which represents a decrease of $300 or 30 per cent from its former price.
Diesel is being retailed at $694 per gallon, from a high of $985 per gallon. With respect to kerosene oil, the price was lowered to $496 per gallon which represents a 42 per cent decrease from its previous price.
But, two of the UK’s leading motoring organisations say fuel prices are unlikely to fall further and could soon rise. The end of forecourt deflation follows 19 consecutive weeks when petrol prices have fallen from an average of above 131p to just 106p a litre — their lowest since 2009.
The impact of falling oil prices on household motoring bills since July has been welcomed as a contributor to a sharp fall in UK inflation as measured by the consumer price index — which fell to just 0.5 per cent in December.
The price for fuel has been dropping around the world since last June, with the latest price of fuel in Venezuela being recorded at US$ $41.01per barrel.
