The Petroleum Products Retailers Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, has explained why the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, should, as a matter of urgency, revive the Port Harcourt refinery and other Federal Government-owned refineries.
In a statement on Wednesday, PETROAN spokesperson, Joseph Obele said the revitalisation of the refineries will ensure fuel price competitiveness, currency stability, and energy security in Nigeria.
PETROAN’s remarks come amid the emergence of fresh optics in the country’s downstream oil sector as the Dangote Refinery resumes refined products sales in dollars.
Barely hours after Dangote Refinery’s new price template, depot owners hiked their ex-depot petrol price to as high as N1245 per litre from around N1080 per litre.
Reacting to the fresh market dynamics, PETROAN said the operation of Nigerian government-owned refineries would be the country’s saving grace to absorb price volatility.
The National President PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry, said, “Marketers earn in naira. If they must now source dollars to secure the product, every fluctuation in the exchange rate becomes a fluctuation in pump prices, and every scarcity of foreign exchange becomes a scarcity of fuel.
“It does not solve for the leverage a single supplier holds over price. This is the case PETROAN is making for the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries.”
DAILY POST reports that while depot petrol prices have skyrocketed, retail pump prices have remained flat between N1155 and N1205 per liter in Abuja and its environs.
Fuel price: Why NNPCL should revive Port Harcourt, other Nigerian refineries immediately —PETROAN
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