Petrol: FG reviews pricing template, insists on N145/litre

The Federal Government on Friday said it had commenced a review of the pricing template for Premium Motor Spirit , popularly known as petrol . It noted , however , that the price of the product would remain unchanged .

According to the Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Dr . Ibe Kachikwu , the review became necessary following the various pricing concerns surrounding the actual cost of a litre of PMS . This is coming as President Muhammadu
Buhari , as well as the Federal Executive
Council , had directed the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation not to allow the price of petrol to go beyond N 145/ litre .

Kachikwu , who spoke to journalists during the ongoing oil sector stakeholders meeting at the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja , also insisted that the pump price of petrol was N 145/ litre and stated that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency was
working on a new pricing template for PMS .

The minister , however , did not explain how the PPPRA would review the template and keep the cost of the commodity at N 145 / litre , considering the fact that the landing cost of PMS was currently around N 171 / litre .

Kachikwu , who only allowed and responded to two questions from journalists, noted that the aspects of the template that had to do with logistics , profit margins for operators , among
others , were being reviewed in the pricing template by the PPPRA.

The minister said , “ PPPRA obviously develops the templates and helps us to monitor importation into the country . The template has always been an issue because as prices change in the international market , some of these templates get question mark .

“ There are two lines as regards this template ; there is the actual cost of landing the product, on the template , and there are other ancillary charges that deal with logistics , profit margins for the operators and all of that.

“ As part of this committee ’ s work , we are also reviewing that template to see whether there are things we need to do to help us ensure that we can accommodate sales at the N 145/ litre window. So , that is also going to be looked into . The PPPRA is working on that and is
heading a special committee on it . ”

However, marketers wondered how the
template would be reviewed to retain the cost of petrol at N 145/ litre , considering the price of the commodity in the international market .

Source: Vanguard NGR