…Borno IPMAN regrets price increase
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, NNPCL, under President Bola Tinubu has, again,
hiked petrol pump price from N537 to N617 per litre in Abuja.
NNPC, attributed the increase in petrol pump price to market realities
NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Malam Mele Kyari, who addressed newsmen, after a private meeting with Vice President, Kashim Shettima, at Presidential Villa, Tuesday in Abuja, said price of pms has nothing to do with supply issue.
He added that there were robust supply of the product in the country.
Kyari said: “I don’t have the details this moment. You know we have the Marketing Wing of the company, they adjust prices depending on the market realities.
“And this is the meaning of making sure that the market regulate itself so that prices will go up and sometimes they will come down also and this is really what we are seeing in reality this is how the market works.
“There is no supply issue completely when you go to the market you buy the product you come to the market and sale it at prevailing market price there is nothing to do with supply we don’t have supply issues.
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“There are robust supply, we have over 32 days supply in the country, that’s not a problem.
“What I know is that the market forces will regulate the market, prices will go down sometimes and sometime it will go up but there will be stability of supply.
He assured Nigerians that the policy was the best way for the country going forward.
“And I am also assuring Nigerians that this is the best way to go forward so that we can adjust prices when market comes.
“I know that a number of companies have imported petroleum PMS so many of them are online. Market forces have started to play, people have confidence in the market and private sector people are now importing product.
“And there is no way they can recover their cost if they cannot take market reflective cost,” Kyari said.
Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, Alhaji Farouk Ahmed, on his part said the authority doesn’t set price of the product but it was market determine itself.
He said: “As a regulator, you know I told you back in May we are not going to be setting price the market will determine itself and as you saw back in early June, when prices came out it was based on the cost of importation plus other logistics of distribution and of course the profit margin by the importer.
“This market is deregulated, is open to all participants. As a mentioned also on Monday, when I was in Lagos, we have about 56 marketing companies that have applied for and obtained license to import.
“Out of those, 10 of them have indicated to supply within the third quarter which is July, August and September. And out of those already we received some cargoes from some of these Marketers.
“Prudent Energy, AYM Shafa and Emadeb Cargo is arriving on Wednesday, so, this is like just an encouragement to see that the market is liberated and everyone is free to import so long you are working within the framework especially in terms of quality.”
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Further he said: “The pricing as a regulator, we are not going to put the cap on the price because we are not part of those importing, we are not a marketing company, we are just a regulator.
“So, when you say market forces are working, basically what it means is that you can see the price of the Crude Oil going up, couple of week ago recovering around $70 per barrel now is around N80 per barrel.
“So, of course the crude price also drive the product price you know because the imposters are importing they are basing it on the course of importation plus other cost element in terms of local distribution.”
Borno IPMAN regrets price increase
Meanwhile, Chairman of Independent Petroluem Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Borno state chapter, Alhaji Mohammed Kuluwu, has regretted the latest increment by NNPCL, which now now stands at N617 as against about N500 per litre.
Kuluwu said with this latest increase, Nigerians well-being and standard of living were being threatened by government for not providing needed palliatives before removing the fuel subsidy.
