The Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, yesterday, directed depot managers to slash the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, to N108 per litre for the month of May.
Although, PPMC is not charged with the responsibility of regulating the price of petroleum product, but in a memo to oil marketers and other stakeholders in the petroleum marketing business, dated May 5, 2020, and signed by D. O. Abalaka, titled: ‘Re: PPMC Petroleum Products Prices for May 2020,’ the PPMC also slashed the ex-depot price of Automotive Gasoline Oil, also known as diesel, N164 per litre for depots in Lagos and N166 per litre for depots in Oghara, Calabar, Port Harcourt, among others.
The PPMC, in the memo to the marketers and stakeholders, disclosed that the new prices would take effect from May 5, 2020.
The ex-depot price is the price at which the depot owners sell the commodity to retail outlets across the country.
Though, the PPMC did not state the Expected Open Market Price of the commodity, which is the pump price of the price, but over the years, the difference between the ex-depot price and the pump price of petrol is usually around N9 per litre.
By implication Nigerians are likely going to buy petrol for about N115 per litre, N10 lower than the current highest price band of N125 per litre.
The current retail price of petrol is N123.50 per litre at NNPC Retail outlets and N125 per litre at private petrol stations, while diesel is sold around N200 per litre.
The responsibility of fixing petroleum products prices lies solely with the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), but the agency is yet to release the pricing templates for May 2020, as against its promise that the templates would be released on a monthly basis, to serve as guide for products pricing for each of the month.
Attempt to get the reactions of the PPPRA as to the reasons behind its failure to publish the pricing templates for May proved abortive, as general manager, Corporate Services of the agency, Mr Kimchi Apollo, failed to respond to enquiries sent to his phone.
Group managing director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, had few days ago, hinted of a possible deregulation of the Nigerian downstream petroleum sector, stating that the federal government had eliminated subsidy and under recovery in the industry.
In an interview in Abuja, Kyari had said, “There is no subsidy and it is zero forever. Going forward, there would be no resort to either subsidy or under recovery of any nature. NNPC will play in the marketplace; it will just be another marketer in the space. But we will be there for the country to sustain security of supply at market price.”