Nigerians recently became aware of the possibility of increased petrol pump prices as crude oil increases monumentally to $60 per barrel. This is a drastic shift from around $43 per barrel which was the stipulated price about four months ago. This latest development was announced by the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Tiimpre Sylva while speaking at the official launch of the Nigerian Upstream Cost Optimisation Program on the 9th of February, 2021. He stated that the lack of provision for subsidy in the 2021 budget has made it impossible for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to continue to bear the cost of under-recovery.
The recent development of increased crude oil proved to have increased government revenue but cannot be disposed of in terms of subsidy payment. Hence, in no subtle way, the NNPC has refused to continuously take the hit for this price increase and must go down this current route of increased pump prices. So, it is expected to see the Nigerian petrol price shift from 160 Naira to 175 Naira as the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROOAN) are already clamouring for this increase so they can stay in business.
Given this constant flux in petrol pricing and its related products, it has become somewhat essential that alternatives be explored especially in recent times where ‘greener’ alternatives are thriving. It is expected that the LPG industry will triumph from merely being a cooking alternative to a primary source of fuel as it is embraced more. Our last blog post highlighted the possible uses of liquefied gas, those uses show that the sale of LPG is going to skyrocket as time goes on and positively impact the Nigerian economy.
Sources:
Image: The Guardian
Nairaland
BBC Pidgin
Vanguard News
John
You guys are doing a great job !