DPR backtracks, says comment on N1,000 per litre of petrol was ‘taken out of context’

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), on Tuesday, clarified its comment projecting a hike in the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS), better known as petrol.

Sarki Auwalu, DPR director, had said the pump price of petrol in Nigeria may rise to N1,000 per litre when the petrol subsidy regime ends without an alternative energy source.

He also said eliminating subsidy would require making alternative fuel available to Nigerians and that failure to do that will plunge Nigerians into paying higher petrol prices when subsidy is removed.

But in a statement on Tuesday, Paul Osu, head of public affairs at DPR, said the comment of the director was clearly taken out of context.

Accoording to him, reports stating that the price of petrol could rise up to N1,000 per litre upon the subsidy removal without alternative energy were misleading.

“The director specifically created a scenario of price instability of PMS based on current dollar to naira differentials to the effect that if Nigeria continues to rely on the importation of PMS without creating alternative energy sources like CNG, LNG, AUTOGAS etc which will provide price buffers for consumers and ultimately crash the price of PMS, then the product will be subject to prevailing market forces,” he said.

“The director further re-emphasised that the strategy for alternative energy sources is  a cardinal programme of the government which has led to the declaration of the Decade of Gas (DoG) with the objective to migrate the Nigerian economy to a gas based economy by 2030.”

As of the time of filing this report, checks by TheCable showed that the DPR has deleted the statement on the rise in petrol price from its website.