After months of buckling under the weight of bearing the differentials in cost of getting fuel to Nigeria and Nigerians at regulated or reduced prices, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPCL, has now freed itself from the financial burden.
The national oil company, which is an operator in the oil and gas sector, on Wednesday increased pump price of fuel at its filling stations in Lagos from N855 to N998 per litre..
The development is a 12.7 per cent or N113 increase over the initial price.
THE CONCLAVE reports that the national oil company had on September 3, 2024 raised the price of petrol from N568, which was the lowest in Lagos, and N617 in some other parts of the country, to a minimum of N855 in Lagos.
The increment at its outlets in Abuja is from N897 to N1,030 per litre.
The latest increment, as learnt, is indicative of the full deregulation of the downstream sector.
This comes with the freedom by oil marketers to get the product from anywhere they could source for it.
The marketers are also free to fix their pump prices amid the interplay of forces of demand and supply.
THE CONCLAVE learnt that the full deregulation will somewhat impact the NNPCL-Dangote Refinery agreement.
NNPCL’s role as sole supplier of Dangote Refinery will be impacted significantly if oil marketers are now free to get the product from anywhere under the sun and at any amount dictated by forces of demand and supply.
Competition among oil marketers is expected to preponderate pump prices.
NNPCL will also be involved in the competitive fixing of pump prices of the petrol as an operator.
The NNPCL had yet to react to the development. The company’s spokesperson, Mr Olufemi Soneye, had not responded to THE CONCLAVE’s enquiry as of press time
