Oil marketers have announced that the Port Harcourt Refinery is nearing readiness to release Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as fuel, at a price below N500 per litre.
Chief Ukadike Chinedu, the National Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, confirmed that the Port Harcourt Refinery is on the verge of supplying fuel to marketers.
Currently, the Nigeria Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) sells fuel to marketers at N567.7 per litre.
Chinedu expressed optimism that with the Port Harcourt refinery coming online, the price of fuel could potentially drop below N500 per litre.
He stated, “However, NNPC is still giving us PMS at N567.7/litre, so we want to believe that the Port Harcourt refinery should give us the product at N500/litre or less than that.”
The announcement follows earlier revelations by Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, on March 15, indicating that the Port Harcourt refinery would commence releasing PMS soon.
This development coincides with the increasing activities of the Dangote Refinery in the fuel market. The entrance of Dangote Refinery into Nigeria’s Automative Gas Oil (Diesel) market recently led to a reduction in diesel prices from N1,600 per litre to N1,000.
Abubakar Maigandi, the National President of IPMAN, expressed hope that the Port Harcourt refinery might sell petrol at N500 per litre or even lower.
“We are happy the diesel price is coming down, thanks to Dangote refinery. As for petrol, the sale has not started. We hope petrol too will come down to like N500 per litre,” he remarked.
