By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that its recent strategic intervention has led to a 42 percent fall in the price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) popularly called diesel.
A national survey by Oil and Gas Forum, NNPC’s weekly TV programme, said this has led to sustained downward price across the country in the last few weeks.
This has made the price of the commodity to slump from between N175 and N200 per litre as at June 18, 2017, to as low as between N155 and N160 per litre in some stations across the country as at last week.
The study showed that NNPC Mega Stations and its affiliates across the country sold the product for N160 per litre while many major and independent marketers in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna, Onitsha, Enugu, Makurdi and most major cities were selling between N160 and N165 per litre. In Port Harcourt the average price is as low as N150 per litre.
Manager of a fuel retail station in Abuja, Mr Ibrahim Isah, said the station had to reduce the selling price to N165 per litre in line with the prevailing market situation in order to sustain the turnover of the business.
An independent marketer in Makurdi, Mr Innocent Abbah, said the going ex-depot price of diesel from tarmac or local private depots is N155 per litre.
However, the situation is slightly different in Asaba and Warri in Delta State and Uyo in Akwa Ibom state where most independent fuel stations as well as major marketers sold the product for N180 per litre.
It would be recalled that the price of AGO crashed by about 42 percent nationwide, a huge downslide over the last six months, following key strategic interventions by the NNPC.
In the first quarter 2017, retail prices of AGO, which is one of the deregulated products, shot up to an all-time high of N300/litre in major demand centres across the country.
The unpleasant situation placed a huge burden on truck drivers who use the product as fuel for their vehicles and the nation’s manufacturing sector which requires it to run its operations, as well as on the masses who need it for household power generation.
NNPC’s interventions included sustained improvement in the supply of the product and remodelling of the product distribution channels to address sufficiency issues across the country.
Another area of intervention that has enhanced supply and distribution of diesel is the corporation’s robust engagement with critical downstream stakeholders such as Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) as well as Independent Petroleum Marketers, leading to the resolution of salient issues.
The corporation has also taken huge steps to resuscitate some of its critical pipelines and depots such as the Atlas Cove – Mosimi Depot Pipeline, Port-Harcourt Refinery – Aba Depot Pipeline, Kaduna – Kano Pipeline and the Kano Depot which have enhanced efficiency in the distribution of AGO. Efforts are also ongoing to revamp and re-commission other critical pipelines and depots across the country.
Furthermore, as a result of consistent positive engagement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the corporation has equally achieved the expansion of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) Foreign Exchange Intervention Scheme to accommodate diesel and aviation fuel.
