Fuel prices are up for the third time this year: The government’s fuel pricing committee raised the price at the nation’s pumps by EGP 0.25 on Friday in response to spiraling international costs, according to an Oil Ministry statement. As matters now stand:

• 95-octane rose 2.7% to EGP 9.25 per liter, up from EGP 9.00;
• 92-octane rose 3.1% to EGP 8.25, from EGP 8.00;
• 80-octane rose 3.7% to EGP 7.00, from EGP 6.75.

The price for diesel remained unchanged at EGP 6.75 per liter “to have a minimal impact on the prices of fuel and food,” the statement noted.

This is the third price hike this year: Fuel prices are now up 8.8-12.0% so far this year after price rises in April and again in July.

This is the last meeting of the fuel price committee this year. The committee, which meets at the beginning of every quarter, is expected to meet again in January.

The global energy crisis cometh: The Oil Ministry cited the rising price of Brent crude (the global oil benchmark) and a slightly stronger USD as a reason for the move. The statement comes as Brent hit a three-year high last week after OPEC and its allies opted against raising output by more than they had originally agreed in June. This comes at a time when there is no clear picture on when supply will increase to meet rising global demand: OPEC+ is still keeping the spigots tight, Saudi Aramco says a natural gas shortage is pushing energy demand up, and the US Energy Department is signalling it will not tap local oil reserves.

Fuel price increases (along with food) have been among the most cited reasons for rising inflation by Capmas, with the month following July’s fuel hikes seeing the highest rate of annual urban inflation in nine months. Inflation figures for September are expected to come out today.

OTHER ENERGY NEWS-

But hey, Dana Gas. Don’t worry, we are still paying out arrears: Dana Gas collections from Egypt shot up 136% y-o-y to USD 125 mn in 9M2021, from the USD 53 mn collected in the same period last year, the company said in a press release (pdf). “Continuing timely payment of invoices and the settlement of outstanding receivables is key to providing us with the confidence to carry on with our expansion plans in the KRI [Kurdistan Region of Iraq] and Egypt,” Dana Gas CEO Patrick Allman-Ward.

ALSO- The Oil Ministry has broken ground on a new natural gas pipeline in the Western Desert expected to have a capacity of 15 mn cubic feet per day, the ministry said in a statement citing EGPC head Nabil Abdel Sadek. Abdel Sadek noted that the EGPC daily production of natgas has now reached 74k barrels of oil equivalent per day. The statement offered no further details.