The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has said it has no intention to increase the retail price of petroleum.
The oil firm said this in a statement posted via its official X platform on Monday night.
The NNPCL made this known in reaction to reports in the media that the company was set to raise petroleum pump prices from the current N617 per litre to between N720 and N750 in the coming weeks.
But in its reaction on Monday, the NNPCL said it has no intention to increase its petrol pump prices as widely speculated.
“Dear esteemed customers, we at NNPC Retail value your patronage, and we do not have the intention to increase our petrol motor spirit (PMS) pump prices as widely speculated.
“Please buy the best quality products at the most affordable prices at our NNPC Retail stations nationwide,” the NNPCL said.
The NNPCL had in May begun adjustment of pump prices of fuel due to the removal of petroleum subsidy to allow market forces to determine prices.
President Bola Tinubu had, in his inaugural address on 29 May, announced the removal of fuel subsidy.
Following the announcement, the NNPCL directed its outlets nationwide to sell fuel between N480 and N570 per litre, an almost 200 per cent increase from the initial price below N200.
The hike immediately triggered an increase in transportation fares and prices of goods and services by various percentages.
In July, petrol pump prices rose to N617 per litre at various outlets of the NNPCL in Abuja and other parts of the country.
At the time, the NNPCL attributed the rise in the petroleum pump prices in the country to ‘market forces’.
The NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, while speaking to journalists after a closed-door meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the State House in Abuja, said with the deregulation of the oil sector, market realities will force the price of petrol up sometimes and at other times force it down.
“We have the marketing wing of our company. They adjust prices depending on the market realities.
“This is really what is happening; this is the meaning of making sure that the market regulates itself so that prices will go up and sometimes they will come down also. This is what we have seen, and in reality, this is what (how) the market works,” Mr Kyari said at the time.
