8 November 2008
At present, crude oil price has been falling. At different times, Nigerian government had reviewed pump prices of products on account that the crude's international price had been high. Now that the price falls, will the current price be as well reviewed downward?
"Because of the fall in the price of petroleum in the international market, Nigerian government will not do an upward review of the pump price of products," Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), Dr Levi Ajuonuma provided the answer in an exclusive chat with Sunday Trust in Abuja Thursday.
"Government had earlier said that by January, it will review the prices upward-that was when crude price was so high. But it's not going to happen now because the crude price is down. But remember, because we're importing a lot of fuel that we use, and this importations are things you do well ahead of time, we'll see how it marches out. The fuel we're using now was not ordered yesterday. It was ordered when the price was high. It is this new quarter, early next year, if the price remains the same, then government will definitely look at beating the price down. But remember, Nigerians still enjoy a lot of subsidy when it comes to petroleum products," the group manager explained.
But Ajuonuma was worried: "With the falling price of crude, we should be worried because 90 per cent of our foreign earnings is from crude oil. So if it continues to fall the way it's going, it's not good for us. We need to be at a stable price-we'll have to adjust our budget now because of the falling price of crude."
On the reported under hand sale of fuel popularly called Black Market in the states of Jigawa and Kano, Ajuonuma said: "Black market is not as a result of inadequacy of products. We have the products. We can say black market may be as a result of challenges we face with regards to products distribution. If the pipelines are constantly being vandalised, which is always the case, what would we do?
"But I have good news-Kano [depot], has just been commissioned, last week. So there is product in Kano right now. And that's because the pipeline from Kaduna to Kano is good, so we have been able to use that pipeline to re-stream Kano depot which had been out of service for the past two years.
"Port-Harcourt, Enugu are no go areas because the pipelines are being constantly vandalised. We can't move products through the pipelines from Port-Harcourt to Enugu-the whole Eastern axis. Every litre of diesel they use there has to be trucked. That creates a lot of challenge.
"But over all, as we enter into the yuletide, we have more than enough product. This will be the fifth year we'll never have any problem."
On the reported inability of vessels carrying products to duck and discharge products due to congestion in the ports, Ajuonuma said ports authorities and Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC) were working round the clock to ensure that normalcy was restored.
"The vessels are there with products and they just have to take their turns to discharge so trucks will move the products across the nation," the group manager explained. He said it was a challenge for the ports management.
He said Kaduna refinery had been closed for a turn around maintenance. The refinery was officially handed over to the construction firm contracted for the turn around maintenance on Friday.
He lamented, "Turn around maintenance that is supposed to be done every two years, in Nigeria, we haven't done our own for the past eight to 10 years. In the next 45 days, after the turn around exercise is finished, the refinery will be handed over to management, that will run at least for the next two years.
"We've assured the nation that even though Kaduna is down, there will be no product scarcity."
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