Nigerians should anticipate a drop in the product’s pump price within the next week, according to the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN).
The ex-depot price of fuel in Lagos was lowered to N899 per litre last week by the Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
Many gas stations have kept their prices at N1015 per liter in spite of the news. Billy Gilly-Harry, President of PETROAN, stated on Channels TV this morning that the new price of the product will go into effect this week.
“But I believe from today when members start loading from both NNPC and Dangote at this new price reduction, it will reflect in the market. But also they’ll give kudos to some of our members, some of the leaders in PETROAN, you know, that have done so well, especially in Abuja, for even reducing their prices to below N1,000 before even this announcement.
“So, we don’t encourage our members to try to sell products at a loss, because our focus is to serve Nigerians. And the only way we serve Nigerians is that we have the resources to be able to do that. That resource can only be there if we’re making marginal profit enough to pay for the cost of money and make sure that we continue to, you know, do business. So, never mind, you’ll see the translation of this reduction of prices in the retail outlets hopefully within the week.”
He claimed that certain members’ old supplies, which they purchased at higher prices, are the reason they are unable to sell at the new ex-depot price.
“So, this reduction, if you apply it immediately, don’t forget that some of them bought at 970, paid transportation costs and logistics that have taken it quite high. So, by the time it gets to their retail outlets, it’s quite much more than that. And so they must also sell at a profit – minimal marginal profit as provisioned by the PIA. So, That’s the reason.”
