The Federal Government has denied that it plans to
increase the pump price of petrol from N87 per litre
to N97 by January 2016.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and
Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu,
advised Nigerians to dispel such insinuations.
Kachikwu stated this during a media parley at the
NNPC Towers, Abuja, that the discourse has long
left the realm of subsidy removal to a more
scientific price modulation approach, which entails
an elastic price mechanism regime to be reviewed
periodically to reflect the prevailing international
price of crude.
He explained that when operational, the novel price
modulation system would place a N97 per litre cap
on the price of fuel to ensure that Nigerians are
insulated from the vagaries of the global crude
price.
“I did not say that refined petroleum products will
sell for N97 per litre next year. I said that between a
band of N87 and N97, we are going to be looking at
prices and today the prices are largely close to
N87. So, there is no need to change the price,’’he
said.
The Minister noted that to determine the price of
petroleum products in future, the Petroleum
Products Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA), will
undertake quarterly review of the crude market
situation.
“I have not put a static figure. PPPRA will have to
do the calculation to be able to announce what price
PMS will sell for in January, but we do not
anticipate any major shift because of the price of
crude today,’’ he noted.
Meanwhile, NNPC has announced 21 off-takers as
winners of the open bid exercise conducted in
October. The exercise witnessed the unprecedented
public harvesting of 278 bids submitted by
indigenous and foreign firms seeking to secure
contract for the sale and purchase of the 26
Nigerian crude oil grades on offer.
A breakdown of the 2015/2016 crude oil term
contract off-takers for the 991,661 bpd Nigerian
equity crude indicate that 240,000 bpd representing
24 per cent of the total volume on offer is awarded
to four refiners classified as major current receivers
of Nigerian crude with capacity to process all of
Nigerian crude grades. The off-takers in this
category include Emirates National Oil Coy (ENOC),
Indian Oil Corporation, CEPSA Refinery, Madrid, and
Sara SPA Refinery. Each of the off-takers in this
category was awarded 60,000 bpd.
Three notable international trading companies,
namely Trafigura PT Ltd, Mercuria Energy Trading
SA and Vitol SA won the bid for the lifting of 32,000
bpd of crude based on their pedigree as large scale
buyers of Nigerian crude with structure for short
term freight intervention and storage. The off-takers
in this category represent about 10 per cent of total
crude volume on offer.
Trading affiliates of international oil companies
consisting of ENI Trading and Shipping SPA, TOTSA
Total Oil Trading SA, Exxon Sale and Supply LLC
and Shell Western Supply and Trading received
term allocation of 32,000 bpd each totaling 128,000
bpd representing about 13 per cent of total volume
of crude oil on offer.
Nigerian downstream players with wide experience
in crude trading and large asset base accounts for
405, 000 bpd representing about 41 percent of total
crude volume on offer.
In this category, Emo Oil & Petrochemical Coy/
China Zhenhea- an NNPC long term trader is
allocated 45, 000 bpd. Other off-takers in this
category include: Northwest Petroleum and Gas Ltd,
45, 000 bpd, Forte Oil, 45, 000 bpd, Oando PLC, 60,
000 bpd, Sahara Energy Resource Ltd, 60, 000 bpd,
A.A. Rano Nig. Ltd, 45, 000 bpd, Eterna Oil, 45, 000
bpd and MRS Oil &Gas Coy Ltd 60, 000 bpd.
NNPC Trading Companies Calson/Hyson 32, 000
bpd and Duke Oil Incorporated 90, 000 bpd account
for combined off-take of 122, 000 bpd representing
about 12 percent of total volume on offer.
Apart from ensuring transparency, the companies,
according to NNPC were carefully chosen based on
their track records and trading experience to
ensure that Nigerian crude cargoes are not left
unsold.
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