The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, has said that Nigerians are likely to witness a downward review of the price of petrol pump price within two to three weeks.
Recall that the oil corporation on Wednesday, May 31, released a circular announcing an upward review of pump price for petrol across its retail outlets by nearly 200% from N195 per litre to between N488 per litre and N557 per litre.
This came after President Tinubu in his inaugural speech announced that fuel subsidy has gone for good.
In an interview with AriseTV this morning, Kyari was asked if there will ever be a downward review of petrol prices.
Responding, he said;
‘’The prices we are seeing today at our stations are the current market price of the commodity. So what this means is that prices can go down at anytime and the market will adjust itself.
“The beauty of this is that there will be new entrants because oil marketing companies were reluctant to come into the market all along because of the subsidy regime that is in place.
” And that subsidy doesn’t have the guarantee of repayment back to those who provide the product at subsidised prices.
“Now that the market regulates itself, oil marketing companies can actually import products or even if produced locally, they can buy and take it into the market and sell it at its commercial price. Therefore, you will see competition even with NNPC.
“Competition will surely come in and definitely the market will regulate the price itself .
“This is just an instantaneous price. In a week or two weeks, you can continue to see adjustments that is happening in many jurisdiction.
“Countries have different approaches to it. Companies have different approaches to it. Competition will drive that but ultimately you will see changes in price downwards. It is very likely.”
On why fuel stations hiked their pump price when they still have in stock already subsidised products, the NNPL boss said
“This is the reality of the market. It applies to every commodity and not just petroleum.”
He added, “It could have been the other way round, prices could have collapsed downwards and those holding the old stock will have to sell at lower prices to arrive at market condition.
“It is not something serious or strange, this is a stock management issue and it is very typical, no one can do anything different about this.
