The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) and Dangote Refinery have reduced the price of Petroleum Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol to below N900 per litre. NNPCL set its depot price at N899 while Dangote Refinery now sells at N899.50. The price reduction is attributed to declining global oil prices and a stable Naira. Additionally, regional pricing strategies have been implemented in states like Anambra and the South-South regions to help reduce transportation costs and improve the cost of living.
In an exclusive interview with News Central TV on Breakfast Central, Billy Gillis-Harry, President of Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), explained that “On the 29th of November, PETROAN had the energy, security strategy forum. Some of the fallout was the projection that the possibility of prices coming down. The more the availability of petrol then price competition was inevitable. They anticipated the drop in prices while they built a good relationship with Dangote to buy from the refinery. The drop in prices are hope to stay and keep reducing, which impacts the rate of purchase from refiners.”
Gillis-Harry stated further that, “Dangote is doing the very best they can. The humongous refinery does 650,000 barrels per day, quite enormous, and it’s been very, very helpful in making sure that there’s no petroleum risk in Nigeria. He added that for the first time, they are having the product available, and prices slightly dropping.”
Addressing concerns about PETROAN knowledge on petrol pricing and production cost per barrel of crude oil in Nigeria.
Gillis-Harry explained that one can only anticipate a certain price input in expenses to produce one litre of PMS. However, from experience, those analyses may never be consistent with the realities, because there are practical values that one cannot get when one is not the refiner. The refiner has their own knowledge of how they want to do things, how they want to work out the costs of how they have produced one litre of PMS. Those are private business facts, that it would be a little bit, you know, immoral for PETROAN to try to buy in there. So they do not do that much, but have some global standards that they use to check compare.”
On the cost of crude oil production, which is reportedly as high as $48 per barrel in Nigeria compared to as low as $15 per barrel in other countries, Gillis-Harry concluded that he couldn’t address the subjects but that their technical team will look into the subject matter, and give the National Executive Council clear technical and financial implications.
Watch the full interview below.
