Ike Amos
25 December 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Monday, disclosed that under-recovery, also known as fuel subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, had dropped to between N20 and N25 per litre.
Addressing newsmen during a tour of petrol stations in Abuja, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru stated that despite the under-recovery, the NNPC would continue to import PMS, also known as petrol to guard against product scarcity.
He disclosed that the Federal Government was still committed to bearing the additional cost above the regulated price of N145 per litre, while also ensuring availability of the product across the length and breadth of the country.
Baru maintained that the NNPC was not deterred by the rising cost of under-recovery and also reiterated the effort of the government to ensure stable fuel supply during the Yuletide and beyond.
He disclosed that under-recovery had a couple of months back, risen to about N80 per litre, noting that within that period, the government insisted on bearing the additional cost so as not to bring hardship on Nigerians.
He said, “Today, fuel distribution is not an issue, supply is not an issue and the magnanimity of the President to ensure that despite the disparity between landing cost and pump price, we are able to ensure that every Nigerian had access to sufficient products at government regulated price of N145 per litre. Despite the fact at some point, we had imported PMS with under-recovery of over N80 per litre.
“The worry that we had has been cleared. We also thank the president for maintaining the N145 per litre pump price. During the course of the year, we had times when we brought in products that indicated an under-recovery of almost N80 per litre. This was because when the price of crude oil rises, the under-recovery on product price also rises.
”Today, we are having much lower crude oil prices and under-recovery had also gone down significantly to the region of N20 and N25 per litre, depending on what the price is. At $60 per barrel, it is about N25 per litre. We are prepared to continue bringing in the products no matter the under-recovery we incur on the commodity.”
Baru further stated that presently, the country has fuel stock that would last the country for over 60 days, adding that current supply would last the country till after the 2019 general elections.
He said, “At the moment, we have 60 days supply in the tank; almost three billion litres of PMS that would last us, without bringing in any extra drop of fuel, another 60 days. We are seeing having products clearly throughout the election period; we have sufficient products.”