Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption rises from 30m litres to 60m – NMDPRA

Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption rises from 30m litres to 60m – NMDPRA

The jigsaw puzzle surrounding the quantity of petrol, otherwise called Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Nigeria consumes daily just got more puzzling as Sunday Vanguard understands that the figure went down to about 30 million litres per day after President Bola Tinubu’s ”subsidy is gone” statement of May 29, 2023, only to dramatically return to more than 60 million litres.

Multiple sources attributed the ‘magical’ rise to renewed smuggling of the product into neighbouring countries where the price of the product is significantly higher than it is in Nigeria.

Until Tinubu ‘removed’ the petrol subsidy via the 2023 Inauguration Day speech, the product sold for N254 but rose subsequently to N617 in Abuja and thereabouts in some parts of the country.

In Lagos where it was cheapest, it sold for about N568 while it sold higher in other South-West states like Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti.

In the North, South-South and South-East, it was a different ballgame as the price of petrol skyrocketed above N615 while independent marketers sold above N800.

The quantity of petrol consumed daily in Nigeria has for a long time been a controversial issue with many stakeholders saying it was shrouded in secrecy especially since the quantity determined the amount to be paid as a subsidy which many people including government officials benefited from.

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According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in the first three months of 2022, Nigeria recorded an average daily consumption of 64.14 million litres, while the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) revealed in September 2022 that Nigeria’s average daily petrol consumption was 66.8 million litres.

However, at the beginning of 2023, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, said there was no credible data to ascertain the daily consumption of petrol in Nigeria while also stating that there was credible data on the actual volume of petrol evacuated from the depots.

Analysts believe the figures quoted are often that high. The bulk of the petrol earmarked for the local market is usually taken by smugglers across the borders, especially to neighbouring countries, where the price of the product is very high because they don’t produce oil.

The smuggling of the product across borders guarantees huge profits for those involved while subsidy also guarantees huge returns for marketers and government officials among others in the system.

But following the Inauguration Day pronouncement of Tinubu (subsidy is gone), daily consumption of petrol in Nigeria, according to sector regulator fell significantly.

Analysis of daily truck-out data published by the NMDPRA revealed that petrol consumption had reduced by more than 24 million litres per day on average.

The average daily consumption in May 2023 was 69.54 million liters which fell to 49.48 million liters in June, representing a 28.3% drop.

In July, this margin increased further to 34.61%, the equivalent of 24.06 million litres, and average daily consumption for the month fell further to 45.74 million litres.

The price of petrol in neighbouring Benin Republic and Cameroon immediately soared, confirming the claim that both countries, among others, were befitting of the Nigerian subsidy regime.

Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption rises from 30m litres to 60m – NMDPRA