Effective today, the pump price for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also called petrol is now N179 per litre, up from N165 per litre to effective, following an upward review approved by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
NNPC in a notice to fuel marketers directed them to change the petrol price on pumps to the new price effective today, even as it also increased the ex-depot price from N148.17 to N167 per litre.
The upward review comes on the heels of weeks of petrol scarcity and long queues, which resurfaced across the country as oil marketers adopted different price bands to force unofficial deregulation attempts.
It is not clear under what authority the NNPC approved the upward review, as under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, such a function falls under the purview of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The Authority is responsible for the regulation of the midstream and downstream petroleum operations in Nigeria which includes technical, operational, and commercial activities, as posted on its website, titled: “NMDPRA TAKES CENTRE STAGE.”
The development has long been anticipated and is unlikely to have any impact on motorists, who have been buying the product for way over the approved price since the scarcity set in early this year.
Already, majority of the filling stations in Lagos, where pump price is highly regulated, have adopted different price models, whereas other parts of the country had long adopted different prices.
Also, many filling stations have changed the price on their meters to reflect the current price, while others have left theirs to show the approved retail price of N165 per litre but were selling above the displayed price.
While the Federal Government had warned that the scarcity will linger until full deregulation, oil markets had insisted that the pump price of N165/litre was no longer feasible and sought phased deregulation.
The upward review comes on the heels of weeks of petrol scarcity and long queues, which resurfaced across the country as oil marketers adopted different price bands to force unofficial deregulation attempts.
