The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) will no longer set petrol prices or templates.
At a Friday news conference in Abuja, the agency’s Authority Chief Executive (ACE), Farouk Ahmed, said market forces will set prices in the liberalised market.
“In a deregulated market, the market force defines the price,” he stated.
The development followed petrol subsidy elimination, according to NAN.
In his inaugural speech on Monday, President Bola Tinubu declared the gasoline subsidy regime over.
Mr Ahmed stated that the market was now available to any importers who met all standards.
It’s not just about NNPC Ltd.
We set the regulation, ensure quality control is met, make sure the goods is there, and prospective licence importers.
“We guide everyone in the sector whether at the depot or wherever the goods is but we will not place a cap to say this is what the price must be,” he said.
Mr Ahmed said the NNPC’s job is to set prices for imported petrol, not take over the Authority’s duties.
The NNPC is the sole importer. We ordered the NNPC to recoup its expenditures because they knew how much it cost to import and sell the commodity.
We also know how much shipping, offshore, ex-depot, and ex-pump cost. As the market is deregulated, we cannot tell them to sell at a price,” he continued.
The NMDPRA chief also announced that the federal government has eliminated fuel equalisation and the national transport allowance.
The NMDPRA, federal government, and FCCPC would aggressively oversee downstream activity to prevent petroleum marketers from profiting.
Mr Ahmed added that merchants can now import petroleum goods and recuperate their costs without restrictions by sourcing foreign exchange anywhere in the world.
Mr Ahmed stated the CBN would not supply dollars to anyone because of the open market. Thus, importers should get dollars from any place.
He said anyone can import with a letter of credit from wherever.
“Marketers can source their FX from anywhere is the beauty of the liberalised market that the NMDPRA has introduced based on the law,” he said.
Mr Ahmed said the market would be calibrated to allow price fluidity, adding that no petrol price pattern existed.
“Based on this, the price would no longer be static but rather vary on the international petrol market,” he stated.
Marketers could not sell at any price.
He said that if prices exceed the estimated profit margin, the NMDPRA and FCCPC would work together to reduce abuses.
“The market structure will drive price movements at all times,” he stated.
Mr. Ahmed warned against expecting inexpensive petroleum products because the company will buy crude oil at worldwide prices.
“Dangote Refinery changes accessibility. He said Nigeria will export petroleum products after the NNPC refineries and other modular refineries come online.
