PPMC may crash petrol price

Speaking with newsmen, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria  (IPMAN ) National Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Maigandi,  said the marketers are looking forward to a downward review of the ex-depot price for the month of October.

He predicated his forecast on the decline of crude prices. The Brent Crude that was $40 per barrel is today $39.38 .

He said the marketers were expecting the announcement of the new price from the PPMC, which is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation  (NNPC ).

But Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA ) had last month said the price of petrol is not solely a factor of crude oil prices.

Its Executive Secretary,  Abdulkadir Saidu, dropped the hint that  marketers now have the approval for fixing the prices of petrol because it has been deregulated. 

According to the agency, only market forces determine the prices of any deregulated product.

The Federal Government deregulated the product in March this year.

Last month, the PPMC pegged the ex-depot price at N151. 56 per litre and deliberately shirked the responsibility of announcing the pump price.

With the leverage, the marketers across the country have sold the PMS for between N158 and N162 per litre.

In that month of September the Brent Crude sold for $46 per barrel.

The PPMC had on September 2, in a brief internal memo with ref: “PPMC /IB/LS/020, dates September 2, said “a new product price adjustment has been effected on our payment platform.

“To this end the price of premium motor spirit  (PMS) is now one hundred and fifty one naira, fifty six kobo (N151.61) per litre.”

The Head  Depot Manager, D.O. Agbalaya, who signed the memo, said: “This is effective from  September 2.”

The price of the Brent crude was yesterday  $46 per barrel.

The marketers sold petrol for between N145.80 and N150 per litre in the month of August.