After months of struggling to sustain fuel imports under the current foreign exchange regime, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) finally admitted monday that the sale of petrol at the current market price of N145 per litre was unsustainable due to the prevailing exchange rate.
NNPC also admitted that despite the preferential exchange rate made available to oil marketers to import petrol, many were reluctant to do so because they would be selling at a loss at the prevalent pump price, implying that NNPC that continues to import it was subsidising petrol.
This came as the House of Representatives pledged to review the laws on licensing, regulation and incentives on petroleum refineries in the country.
Speaking monday in Lagos at the 2016 Oil Trading and Logistics (OTL) Conference, the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division at the NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari, said there was no way petrol would continue to be sold at the current pump price.
Kyari was however quick to add that the present administration would not announce another increase in the petrol pump price, because Nigerians would not accept it. According to him, legislation by the National Assembly would be required for petrol to be sold above N145 per litre. Read the full story here.