Pump price doesn’t reflect market forces, petrol being subsidised to gulp N102.96bn in March – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation may spend N102.96bn on petrol subsidy this month going by the recent pricing template for the commodity.

A Federal Government agency, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, on Thursday published the expected new lower and upper prices for petrol at retail outlets in March 2021, putting the rates at N209.61/litre and N212.61/litre respectively.

It also put the ex-depot price of petrol for the month at N206.42/litre and pegged the expected landing cost at N189.61/litre.

PPPRA is the regulator of the downstream oil sector.

It pulled down Thursday’s template for petrol with an explanation that the earlier published guiding price did not translate to a hike in pump price despite reflecting market realities.

However, the ex-depot price approved by NNPC for March was N148.6/litre and the corporation insisted that it had not and had no plan to increase petrol price this month.

Ex-depot price is the rate at which NNPC sells the commodity to depot owners, from where retailers make purchase before dispensing at the pumps in filling stations.

“There is no increase in petrol price and our position is that the ex-depot price for petrol in March remains the same. So, no need to panic because there is no hike in price,” NNPC’s spokesperson, Kennie Obateru, stated.