Petrol: NNPCL boss briefs Shettima on price hike

Petrol: NNPCL boss briefs Shettima on price hike

Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the  Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), on Tuesday met with Vice-President Kashim Shettima in Abuja to brief him about the sudden rise in the pump price of petrol.

He said there was no fuel supply issue but it was just a function of market forces driving the price of the product.

Petrol pump price in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, jumped from N540 to N617 per litre at NNPC filling stations on Tuesday morning.

It was reportedly sold at N620/litre in Kano, among other cities

There were long queues at many filling stations in Lagos and other places where the product was still being sold below N600.

Kyari, while speaking to journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, explained that the rise in price observed at fuel stations was as a result of the market regulating itself.

He said that the pricing would fluctuate from time to time, depending on activities at the international market.

He said, “I don’t have the details this moment. We have the marketing wing of our company. They adjust prices depending on the market realities.

“This is really what is happening; this is the meaning of making sure that market regulates itself so that prices will go up and sometimes they will come down also.

“This is what we have seen and 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 you sell it at the prevailing market prices. Nothing to do with supply. We don’t have supply issues. There is robust supply. We have over 32 days of supply in the country.”

Kyari also said, “People have started having confidence in the market. Private sector people are importing products. But there is no way they can recover their cost if they cannot take market reflective cost.”

Also, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, said the price increase was as a result of rising crude prices.