Petrol May Sell For N234 Per Litre – NNPC GMD
A litre of petrol also known as Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) may soon sell for N234 per litre, the group managing director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, has said.
He said the new price is being contemplated because the corporation can no longer sustain the monthly subsidy of N120 billion ($263,248 million) in dispensing the product at the current rate. Depending on the location, PMS at present sells for between N163 and N165 per litre.
Kyari gave hint of the new price at the fifth edition of the special ministerial briefings coordinated by the Presidential Communication Team in Abuja, yesterday.
He said the NNPC absorbs the cost differential which is recorded in its financial books
Kyari said while the actual cost of importation and handling charges amounts to N234 per litre, the federal government sells it at N162 per litre.
He stated that the NNPC could no longer afford to bear the cost, adding that sooner or later Nigerians would have to pay the actual cost for the commodity.
According to him, “Today, NNPC is the sole importer of petrol. We are importing market price and we are selling at N162. Looking at the current price situation, the market price could have been between that N211 and N234 per litre.
“The meaning of this is that the consumers are not paying for the full value of PMS that we are consuming and therefore the NNPC is bearing that cost. As at today, the difference is being carried in the books of the NNPC and I can confirm to you that the NNPC nay no longer be in a position to carry that cost.
“Second, it is to also put some reliefs such that the potential effect of the fuel price increase is not transferred to the ordinary people. Part of this is to deepen the auto-gas programme.
“With auto-gas programme, we will be able to deliver alternative fuel for vehicles including Keke NAPEP so that the price per litre equivalent will probably be half of the PMS at its current price.
“So, as we speak, I will not say that we are in a subsidy regime but we arePMS in a situation where we are trying to exit the underpriced sale of PMS until we come to the full value of the product in the market.
“We want to use this opportunity to tell you that PMS today sells above N200 across our borders and in some places about N500 to a litre. In some countries, the Nigerian fuel is their territory fuel and we are supplying almost everybody in the West African sub-region.
“We cannot continue to afford this because we have our own issues. That’s why the eventual exit from this is completely inevitable. When that will happen I don’t know but I know that some engagements are going on; the government is concerned about the natural impact of price increase on our transportation and other consumer aspects of our society,” he said.
