The rise in prices of global crude oil has made the prices of refined petroleum products across the country go up.
Bibian Anekwe News reports that the rise in global crude oil prices was caused by the Russia-Ukraine war and the cost of Brent rose above $133/barrel on Tuesday evening.
The rise in the price of Brent has impacted the cost of Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol, Automotive Gas Oil popularly called diesel, Kerosene and JetA1 also known as aviation fuel.
It was learned that petrol sold for N200/litre, diesel sold for between N550 – N625/litre while Aviation fuel was sold between N579 and N607/litre on Tuesday.
In a chat with The Punch, President, Petroleum Products Retail Outlets owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, said the rise in the prices of refined petroleum products in the country was expected.
He said the actual cost of petrol without subsidy was usually a little higher than that of diesel, stressing that if not for subsidy, PMS would be selling around N550 to N600/litre going by the rise in crude price.
He said: “Unlike PMS, diesel or AGO has been deregulated and the price is basically determined by the cost of crude oil, foreign exchange rate and a few other factors.
“While diesel is a deregulated commodity, petrol is not deregulated but is rather subsidised and you can imagine the amount of subsidy being spent on a litre of petrol currently.”
He further stated that the N3tn that was projected by the government as subsidy spending in 2022 might double before the end of the year if the crude oil price continues to rise.
He said, “We’ve been saying this forever that we should deregulate and allow market forces to determine the price of PMS at the pumps. This subsidy we are paying, at the end of the day may not be the best for this country.
Today the government is proposing N3tn for subsidy this year, but at the end of the day it might rise up to N5tn or N6tn going by the rise in crude oil price.”
Bibian Anekwe News
