Petroleum Minister Charges NNPC to Sell Petrol N1,000 Per Litre, Gives Reason

• The Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has asked the NNPC to sell petrol above N1,000 per litre
• The minister said that selling the product above that rate will end smuggling the product outside the country
• He said the NNPC sells the product at N600 per litre, giving incentive for petrol smuggling to thrive

Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.

The minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) must sell petrol above the landing cost to stop smuggling.

Lokpobiri disclosed this at the 2024 Energy and Labour Summit in Abuja, pointing out that selling imported petrol below the landing cost motivates smuggling activities.

N600 per litre is an incentive to smuggling

He disclosed that smuggling will continue if the national oil firm imports PMS and sells it to marketers at about N600 per litre.

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He said that security agencies are complicit in aid smuggling, stating that persistent smuggling to neighbouring countries remains a challenge that cannot be eradicated.

According to the Nigerian Tribune, the minister disclosed that NNPC faces financial constraints in maintaining and rebuilding Nigeria’s pipelines.

Oil pipelines responsible for vandalism

According to the minister, some pipelines date back to the 1960s and 1970s and are highly susceptible to vandalism and crude oil theft, which can impact Nigeria’s oil revenue.

“The old, corroded pipelines, some of which date back to the 1960s and 1970s, are easily vandalised,” Lokpobiri explained.

Nigerian petrol sells more in other countries

Legit.ng earlier reported that smuggled Nigerian petrol sells higher in neighbouring countries than in the country.

President Bola Tinubu's naira devaluation has sparked cross-border petrol smuggling to Nigeria’s neighbours.

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Findings show that petrol smuggling is flourishing in border communities in Nigeria.

Naira devaluation sparks petrol smuggling.

The development has been attributed to the naira devaluation, which has seen the CFA Franc trading higher than the naira, providing incentives for smugglers to sell Nigerian petrol.

Reports say smugglers now besiege petrol stations at border towns, buying the product for between N580 and N630 per litre to resell it for N1,200 in the neighbouring countries of Benin and Togo.

Reports say that smugglers buy from filling stations owned by significant marketers along Sango-Idiroko and sell to smugglers at a higher rate despite the Nigerian Customs Service clamping down on fuel smugglers.

Nigeria Customs seizes N205bn worth of petrol

Data shows that Nigeria Customs seized about 1.5 million litres of petrol, the equivalent of 46 tankers, between January and July this year.

The seizures were done in Nigerian states with common borders with the Benin Republic and Niger Republic.

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The Customs data disclosed that the naira value of petrol seized in the period under review is worth about N205.4 billion.

The service made 955 seizures in the first seven months of this year.

Breakdown of seizures and their worth

The Customs data stated that the seizures in January were worth N13.53 billion, in February worth N132 million, N88.5 million in March, N46.7 million in April, N7,41 billion in May, N89.7 million in June and N7.54 billion in July 2024.

The development comes as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has kept mum over the current petrol scarcity in Nigeria, which has seen the price skyrocket to as high as N1,000 per litre in some states.

When Nigerians eagerly await petrol from the Dangote Refinery, the scarcity of petrol has caused a rise in transportation costs and other goods and services.

Oil marketers set a date to end petrol scarcity

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Legit.ng earlier reported that the national president of the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA, Bennet Korie, has expressed hope that Nigerians will heave a sign of relief and achieve complete petroleum availability by September when the Dangote and Port Harcourt refineries begin operations.

Korie disclosed this as he addressed vital challenges affecting the oil and gas industry at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, August 28, 2024.

He disclosed that the Dangote Refinery would boost the petrol supply and spur competition. He called for various stakeholders to be included in the distribution process to increase availability.

Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at Legit.ng

Source: Legit.ng