By now I am sure Kenyans appreciate the relationship between Covid-19, oil demands and prices. Reduced social and economic activities and travel restrictions have constrained petroleum products intakes across the world including Kenya. And we have seen the petroleum regulator, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) reduce petroleum retail prices to levels lower than when Covid-19 arrived in mid-March. Covid-19 prevalence, especially in high GDP nations like USA, China and European Union, has become a good calibrator of oil price movements.
In the past month, many developed countries experienced reduced levels of the virus and reasoned that it was time to permit gradual opening of their economies. Armed with the good news of economic revival prospects, the oil market speculators talked up the prices with Brent crude prices going from below $30 per barrel in April to about $43 early last week. And EPRA announced higher pump prices in June to reflect the latest outcome of the duel between Covid-19 and oil markets.
