The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) says the recent hike in the pump price of petroleum may be due to an increase in the “difficulty in landing products”.
In an interview with Channels TV on Thursday October 10, PETROAN president Billy Gillis-Harris, said;
“What I can tell you is, once there is difficulty in landing products by NNPCL and the size of shock absorbing that they (NNPCL) can do become overwhelming, they will certainly shed some of the loads. I think that’s what would have happened.”
On Wednesday, retail outlets of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) increased the pump price of the commodity in Lagos and Abuja. NNPCL outlets in Lagos sold a litre of petrol for N998 which is N150 higher than the initial price of N855.
The situation is similar in the nation’s capital of Abuja where the pump price of a litre of the commodity went to N1,030 from N897.
NNPCL’s most recent move came about a month after a similar adjustment in the pump price of the commodity. The retail firm pushed the cost per litre of fuel from N568 to N855. It acknowledged huge debts to fuel suppliers and announced a roughly 40-percent price increase to help its finances.
PETROAN boss said the prices of the commodity will be determined by market forces.
“The truth right now is that petrol prices are going to be determined by the forces of demand and supply,” he said on the show.
This does not mean that the prices will always be high. Remember that our dollar exchange value is going to impact very highly on the cost of PMS because we are operating a dollarized business in naira.” he said
