Petrol now N617 per litre

By Abiodun OBA

Pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol, has been further jerked up from N537 to N617 per litre by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

This is the second increase following the official removal of petrol subsidy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his inaugural speech in May, when the pump price increased from N195 to N537 per litre beyond users’ expectations.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) disclosed that the country’s daily consumption decreased by 35 per cent and currently stands at 46.34 million litres per day.

Mr Ahmed Farouk, Chief Executive, NMDPRA, disclosed this during a stakeholder meeting with oil and gas downstream operators on Monday in Lagos.

“The current daily consumption has drastically reduced as against 65 million litres which had been the daily consumption before subsidy removal.

“In January, it was 62 million litres per day ; February, 62 million litres per day; March, 71.4 million litres per day; April, 67.7 million litres per day; May 66.6 million litres per day; June, 49. 5 million litres per day and July, 46.3 million litres per day,” he said.

However, despite reduction in daily petrol consumption in the country, Tribune Online gathered that the NNPCL, on Tuesday, jerked up the price of PMS.

While there is no official statement yet from neither the NNPCL nor NMDPRA confirming the recent development, some filling stations are shut in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, over the latest development on new pump price while NNPCL mega station in central area, Abuja have effected N617 as new pump price.