The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has insisted that it did not clash with petroleum marketers over the removal of petrol subsidy.
In a statement by NNPC Ltd spokesman, Olufemi Soneye, Wednesday in Abuja, reacting to a report by the Punch Newspaper that the company on Tuesday clashed with petroleum marketers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) over the removal of subsidy on petrol.
“NNPC Ltd emphasizes it has not clashed with any party. The Punch headline is deemed unfortunate. The publication sought confirmation on alleged subsidy reduction, to which NNPC responded that subsidy has been entirely removed,” Mr Soneye said in the message.
The newspaper in the report said petrol will start selling for N1,200 per litre due to the cessation of under-recovery of fuel costs.
According to the report, oil marketers claimed that the subsidy on petrol was increasing considering the crash of the naira against the United States dollar and the cost of crude oil.
The report quoted the National Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Ukadike Chinedu, as saying that subsidy on petrol was rising and that the cost of the commodity should be around N1,200/litre in a free market.
The IPMAN PRO was quoted as saying that “To be pragmatic in this analysis let’s consider the cost of petrol today in the United States. For Premium petrol, it is $2.99, while super petrol sells for $3.15 or $3.10 depending on the part of the country where you are making the purchase.
“Now, $3 in Nigeria is over N3,000, because a dollar in the parallel market is over N1,000. You can also see the cost of diesel, which is over N1,000/litre, and it is important to state that petrol is usually higher in price than diesel in a free market.
