Petrol Price Likely to Drop in October in Nigeria

Plunged in global oil price following President Trump’s COVID-19 report is likely to reduce pump price this month, according to oil marketers in the country.

According to the oil marketers, the plunge in global oil price by $1.66 or 4.06 percent will necessitate an equal pump price adjustment since the cost of petrol is now largely determined by crude oil.

This was after Brent Crude oil, against which Nigerian oil is priced, declined to $38 per barrel on Friday shortly after Trump tweeted that himself and the first lady had tested positive to COVID-19 on Thursday.

Billy Gillis-Harry, the National President, Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, explained that marketers’ prediction was that the petrol price could moderate in line with the current decline in oil price in October.

He, however, reiterated  that oil marketers’ commitment to meet other stakeholders and discuss the price of petrol across the nation.

Gillis-Harry said, “We will continue to insist that the arm-chair pattern of fixing prices is not correct. You saw the confusion it caused the last time. We are going to have a meeting with them (government) that will involve all the stakeholders.

“So, hopefully by then we should be able to have proper information to give to you on the latest in price.

“However, based on the slide in crude oil prices, there is the suspicion that petrol price may come down.”

In March, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency started the deregulation of the downstream oil sector and provided petrol price bands for some months but eventually stopped, saying the downstream sector has been fully deregulated.