Balancing act as fuel price hikes return

Last week, British Petroleum (BP) president for sub-Sahara Africa, Advocate Rams Ramashia drove the point home when he said those who run governments will walk a tightrope on oil matters because of the long term security supply concern in the region.

He said the situation is not helped by the fact that government and private sector do not see things in the same perspective. "Politicians want to control the price and keep it down. It is a good thing to do, only if it was possible, because we all want to pay less," Ramashia said. However, he stated that the reality is that fuel prices are determined by international crude oil prices denominated in the US Dollar and worse OPEC members also have a lot of say in the matter.