Petrol Price May Hit N190 Per Liter As Crude Oil Nears $60

Nigeria Oil Marketers on Sunday said with the current global crude oil markets realities, the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) in Nigeria will hit N185 to N200 per litre unless the Federal Government wants to subsidise the product. 

The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong who made this known in an interview with the Punch said the continued increase in oil prices had brought back petrol subsidy.

The upturn in global oil prices last week has again brought to the fore marketers’ concerns over the non-implementation of the full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector as the pump prices of petrol have been left unchanged for more than two months.

Recall that on January 11 that the sustained increase in global crude oil prices had pushed up the landing cost of imported petrol closer to the current pump prices of the product in Nigeria, and appeared to have triggered a return to petrol subsidy era.

While since November 13, 2020, when the pump prices of PMS were last increased in the country, the price of the international oil benchmark, Brent crude, has increased by 43 per cent, rising from $41.51 per barrel to $59.34 per barrel on Friday.

Fuel marketers had in December expected another upward adjustment of PMS prices to reflect the further rise in crude oil prices, which closed at $51.22 per barrel on December 31.

However, a N5 reduction in petrol price, which took effect from December 14, was announced by the Federal Government, a development that left them reeling in shock and questioning the deregulation of petrol price.

Crude oil price accounts for a large chunk of the final cost of petrol, and the country has continued to spend so much on petrol imports for many years amid low domestic refining capacity.

Speaking in an interview on Sunday, the marketers said the pump price of petrol should be between N185 and N200 per litre.

The product is currently sold at between N160 and N165 per litre at many filling stations in Lagos.

According to Isong, “Members of my association are operating in Nigeria and care about the long-term sustainability of the industry as well as the country itself.