The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced on Friday that it its current ex-depot price of petrol would subsist until the conclusion of ongoing talks with the organised labour and other stakeholders. Subsist
Spokesman for the NNPC, Dr. Kennie Obateru who disclosed this to journalists in Abuja yesterday said the corporation had no intention to preempt ongoing engagement with labour by unilaterally increasing the ex-depot price of petrol.
He said the corporation, at the moment, was bearing the burden of importing refined petroleum products, as the supplier of last resort, to guarantee energy security for the nation.
He said NNPC had made arrangements for robust stock of petroleum products in all its strategic depots across the country to keep the nation well supplied at all times.
He advised petroleum products marketers not to engage in arbitrary price increase or hoarding of petrol so as not to disrupt the market.
He also urged motorists not to engage in panic buying, stressing that NNPC was committed to ensuring energy security for the country as the supplier of last resort.
He assured marketers and all other relevant stakeholders in the downstream sector of sustainable collaboration for the public interest.
Recall that group managing director of the oil corporation, Mr. Mele Kyari, said Thursday that the federal government was spending N120 billion monthly on fuel subsidy and that such subsidy huge spending could no longer be sustained.
Kyari who disclosed this at the fifth edition of the special ministerial briefings coordinated by the presidential communications team in Abuja, therefore made a case for prompt conclusion of talks between the federal government and the organised labour to resolve the dispute over the appropriate pricing of petrol.
He expressed concern about the current under-pricing of the commodity, which he said resulted in the NNPC losing N130 billion monthly due to the sale of the commodity below the market price.
Addressing the journalists, Kyari said a plan was in the works to exit the under-pricing regime.
He said the corporation generated N2.197 trillion from the sale of petrol between December 2019 and December 2020.
Kyari said the pump price of petrol in the country was far lower than in neighbouring countries.
He stated that was why the under-pricing would have to be addressed soon to bring it at par with the actual value of the product.
“Today as we speak, I will not say that we are in a subsidy regime but we are in a situation where we are trying to exit the underpriced sale of petrol until we come to the full value of the product in the market. We want to use this opportunity to tell you that petrol today sells at above N200 per litre across our borders and in some places about N500 per litre.
“In some countries, the Nigerian fuel is their territory fuel and we are supplying almost everybody in the West African 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 put daily consumption of petrol at 60 million litres, at a selling price of N162 per litre, while the actual market price is N234, leaving the NNPC with an extra cost of about N130 billion monthly.
“The current consumption is about 60 million litres per day; we are selling at N162 per litre and the current market price is N234, the actual market price today. The difference between the two is to multiply 60 million by 30 which will give you per month. I don’t have the numbers now, this is simple arithmetic we can do. But if you want the exact figure from our books, I do not have it at this moment, but it is between N100 billion and N130 billion per month. I don’t have the exact number,” he added.
