Nigerians paying N17 more for petrol

Nigerians are paying N17 extra on petrol per litre, with crude oil selling below $52 a barrel at the international market, Daily Trust has reported.

The current N97/litre of petrol on the template of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) were calculated based on the $69/barrel.

According to Daily Trust, the cost per litre of Premium Motor Sprit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, should cost N80.1k when all the expenses are factored in, despite the additional expenses attached to importation of refined fuel.

The price of Brent crude oil fell for a fourth straight day to $51.12 per barrel yesterday, its lowest level since March 2009.

According to Daily Trust findings, the PMS produced by our local refineries should cost N54.6 per litre with current crude price. But only one of the three refineries is producing skeletally.

At the moment about 90 per cent of the PMS consumed is imported from Europe and Asia.

Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in her budget speech that “preliminary estimates show that the break-even crude oil price at which the landed cost of PMS will equal our current pump price of N97 per litre so that there will no longer be subsidy is about US$60 pb”.

“It is only when crude oil price (Bonny Light) falls below this level that the pump price of PMS (which includes N15.49 per litre distribution and Petroleum Equalization Fund cost) can begin to come down.

The break- even price of crude oil would have been higher were it not for the N15.49 per litre distribution margin,” she said.

Yesterday, PMNEWS also reported that Nigerians are paying more than Americans for both petrol and diesel.

*Reported by Daily Trust