NNPC: We did not direct oil marketers to hike petrol price

Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it did not direct marketers or review the ex-depot price and pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.

Following the hike in diesel price, oil marketers made a case for the increment of petrol price, citing soaring transport costs. 

Although the federal government had insisted that the pump price of petrol remain N165 a litre, oil marketers said it is “not sustainable”.

On Tuesday, reports claimed that NNPC, in a notice to oil marketers, approved an upward review in the pump price from N165 per litre to N179 per litre as well as the ex-depot price from N148.17 to N167 per litre.

Checks by TheCable also showed that some filling stations have adjusted their pump prices.

But speaking on the telephone with TheCable, Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPC’s spokesperson, said the oil firm does not function as a regulator and consequently does not set prices for petrol. 

He added that the company had no idea about the issue — as it did not emanate from it. 

“The NNPC no longer approves pump price review. That is the work of the midstream and downstream authority,” he said. 

“I have no idea. They are the ones that tell you what price regime the government has approved, not NNPC. NNPC has already exited all that situation. We are operating just like MTN now.”

An oil marketer who preferred anonymity told TheCable that the claims in the circulated message were “false” and “mischievous” as nothing of such happened between the government and marketers. 

Apollo Kimchi, spokesperson, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), could not be reached as his mobile was switched off.