“From 46m to 9m Litre Per Day:" NNPC Says Petrol Consumption Has Crashed by 30 Per Cent
- The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has said that petrol consumption in Nigeria has decreased
- NNPC Group Managing Director Mele Kyari stated that petrol consumption crashed by 30%
- He said the crash also led to a corresponding decrease in Forex demands by NNPC
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has revealed that petrol consumption has fallen 30% in Nigeria.
Kyari announced during a media briefing in Abuja where the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, revealed that Nigeria is planning to woo domiciliary account holders to utilize their funds in Nigeria.
Demand for foreign exchange crashes
Kyari noted that a reduction in petrol consumption is attributed to the subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu.
The NNPC boss said the reduction in fuel demand has led to a 30% reduction in foreign exchange requirements for petrol imports.
BusinessDay reports that Kyari stated that the $3 billion deal with AfreximBank was not a loan but a forward sale arrangement and explained that it had continued.
In July, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) revealed that petrol consumed across Nigeria for H1 2023 stood at 11.26 billion litres.
Daily petrol consumption crashes nationwide
Punch reports that the authority stated that after the removal of the petrol subsidy on May 29 by President Bola Tinubu, it crashed to about 18.5 million litres daily as of June 2023.
Data from NMDPRA shows that between January and May 28, the total amount of petrol consumed nationwide was about 9.9 million litres.
Petrol consumption was put at 66.9 million litres for the 148 days, showing that Nigeria consumed an average of 66.9 million litres of petrol daily when the subsidy existed.
NNPC, however, asked marketers in Lagos to begin loading PMS at Pinnacle Depot in Ibeju Lekki following pipeline vandalism affecting supplies in Lagos and Ogun states.
The Chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN), to Legit.ng in a telephone conversation that the NNPC has asked the marketers to load at the depot until repairs are effect on the vandalised pipelines.
Nigeria moves to woo domiciliary account holders
Meanwhile, Edun revealed the significant Forex held by Nigerians within and outside the country could be used to lift the economy.
The Finance Minister stressed the need to create a climate that allows Nigerians to invest in the Nigerian economy rather than in foreign countries.
Edun said:
“We need to provide the environment that brings those funds home for investment in the Nigerian economy.”
Per the Finance Minister, the palliatives provided by the Nigerian government would go a long way to ease the pains of subsidy removal.
He said the funds are released gradually, with the initial N2 billion given to the states to prevent inflationary pressures and maintain stability.
FG Says monthly petrol consumption dropped by 18.5 million litres as depot prices crash
Legit.ng reported that according to a federal government statement, the volume of petrol consumption across the country in the first half of 2023 was put at 11.26 billion.
However, after the subsidy was removed from the product, petrol consumption dropped by an average of 18.5 million litres daily in June.
Data released on Sunday, July 9, 2023, by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (MDPRA) indicates that between January 1 and May 28, 2023, before the deregulation period, petrol consumption was about 9.9 billion litres.
Source: Legit.ng