New Petrojam pricing mechanism unveiled

Durrant Pate/ Contributor

After seven consecutive weeks of climbing, gas and other petroleum prices have gone down, effective today.

Petrojam, Jamaica’s lone state-owned oil refinery, announced the changes yesterday. Gasoline 87 and 90 octane have both gone down by 25 cents per litre to sell for $176.63 and $184.07, respectively, up from $176.88 and $184.3287 last week. 

Automotive Diesel and Kerosene are also down 25 cents per litre to $189 and $178.39, respectively. Cooking gas is up 38 cents per litre to $77.68 while Butane is down 22 cents per litre to $85.80. Marketing companies and dealers will add their respective margins.

Brace for high gas prices

In the meantime, Energy Minister Daryl Vaz yesterday unveiled a new pricing mechanism for Petrojam, citing the impact of the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East for this new regime, which will bring about high petroleum prices starting as early as next week.

Speaking at the weekly Post Cabinet news conference, Minister Vaz warned Jamaicans to brace for paying more for petroleum products, as Petrojam has been absorbing billions instead of passing on the full costs to consumers, declaring that the government can no longer shield consumers. 

The new pricing regime will see Petrojam passing on the full cost of rising oil prices on consumers. Advising Jamaicans not to panic, Vaz admitted that the current pricing mechanism has been effective in cushioning consumers but has resulted in significant financial losses to Petrojam in the last four weeks.

According to the Energy Minister, “between March 12 and April 8, 2026, the full increase in transport fuel prices averaged approximately $49.20 per litre. However, only $18 per litre was passed on to consumers based on the Government’s pricing cap at $4.50 per litre per week up or down. This was made possible through Petrojam’s pricing mechanism which absorbed the remaining cost — amounting to approximately US$8.6 million or $1.3 to $1.4 billion over the period — in order to cushion the impact on the Jamaican people.”