VAM News Update

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Friday said that it has no intention to increase the price of Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol as widely being speculated.

The National Oil Company said this in a statement posted on its X formerly known as Twitter.

The statement is in reaction to reports that landing cost of petrol has significantly increased to N720 per litre from the previous cost of N651 per litre in August.

The increase in the cost of petrol, according to some oil marketers is attributed to the foreign exchange rate volatility, a development that makes many petroleum depots to be deserted.

But in the statement, the NNPC Limited said there are no plans to increase the price of petrol.

The statement reads, “Dear esteemed customers, we at NNPC Retail value your patronage, and we do not have the intention to increase our PMS pump prices as widely speculated. Please buy the best quality products at the most affordable prices at our NNPC Retail Stations nationwide.”

The NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari had in August this year, during a chat with State House Correspondents shortly after a meeting with the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, at the Presidential Villa Abuja explained that the current price reflected the market realities as the price of the product could either increase or decrease.

He said, “We have the marketing wing of our company. They adjust prices depending on the market realities. This is really what is happening; this is the meaning of making sure that market regulate itself so that prices will go up and sometimes they will come down also. This is what we have seen and in reality this is what the market works.

“There is no supply issue completely. When you go to the market, you buy the product; you come to the market you sell it the prevailing market prices. Nothing to do with supply. We don’t have supply issues. There is robust supply.”