Nigeria’s state oil company says it has crashed petrol, cooking gas prices nationwide

Nigeria’s state oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says its sustained strategic intervention in the efficient supply and distribution of petroleum products has led to significant fall in the prices of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, nationwide.

In a statement signed Sunday by Ndu Ughamadu, spokesman of the corporation, the NNPC said a national survey by oil and gas forum, NNPC’s weekly TV programme, indicated that in the last few weeks, the price of petrol has fallen steadily from N145 per litre to between N142 and N143 per litre in some stations across the country.

The survey specifically showed that NNPC mega and affiliate stations across the country are selling the product at N143 per litre, while the pump price range from between N142 and N145 per litre in some major and independent marketers in Lagos, Abuja, Sokoto, Enugu, Delta and other major cities.

According to Ughamadu, one of the respondents in the survey and a manager at an independent fuel retail station in Abuja, Mohammed Abdullahi, said the station currently sells petrol at N142 per litre in line with the prevailing market situation in order to sustain the turnover of the business and to attract more motorists to the station.

Another independent marketer in Mosimi, Emeka Ikechukwu, said the going ex-depot prices of PMS had dropped from N138 per litre in most depots to N133.28 in NNPC depots and between N130 and N131 per litre in private depots.

However, the situation is slightly different in Aba and Umuahia in Abia State and Calabar in Cross River State where most independent fuel stations as well as major marketers selling the product at N145 per litre.

The survey also showed a similar trend of drop in price for cooking gas with the average price for refilling 5kg cylinder at N2,215.96 from the former price of N2,500.00.

The study equally revealed that states with the lowest average price for the 5kg LPG refill were Kaduna and Niger at N2,000; Kogi at N2,005.00; and Oyo at N2,033.33.

At the NNPC mega and retail stations nationwide, a 12.5kg of cooking gas that was sold for N4,500 a few months ago is now sold for N3,800 while other retail outlets sell the same quantity for N4,000.

Ughamadu said NNPC has sustained its interventions through sustained improvement in the supply of the products and remodeling of distribution channels to address sufficiency issues across the country.

“The corporation has also stepped up the resuscitation of some of its critical pipelines and depots such as the Atlas Cove – Mosimi Depot Pipeline, Port-Harcourt Refinery – Aba Depot Pipeline, Kaduna – Kano Pipeline and the Kano Depot which have enhanced efficiency in products distribution.

“Efforts are also ongoing by the NNPC to revamp and re-commission other critical pipelines and depots across the country to further push down the prices of petroleum products for the benefit of consumers,” he noted.

The crash in prices as announced by the NNPC is coming after Ibe Kachikwu minister of state for petroleum resources indicated Thursday that owing to the competition inherent in the premium motor spirit price modulation, the product’s prices will crash in the next four to six months.

Presenting his scorecard on his two years in office in a podcast released to reporters in Abuja he said that “once Nigerians throw their trading skill in, once competition thrives, the prices will continue to tumble,” adding “my guess is that you will see the prices tumble in the next four, five to six months. The market will be more stable and definitely the prices will be lower than what we see today.”

He urged Nigerians not to undermine the present prices of the product, stressing that a look at the prices of the diesel, which are now 40 percent down and recording surplus supply is enough evidence that the petrol prices will also crash.