Petroleum product marketers on Monday lamented their losses as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited reduced the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) to N880 per litre in Lagos and N935 in Abuja. From N925, some NNPC retail outlets in Lagos changed their pump price to N880 on Easter Monday, while those in Abuja adjusted from N950 to N935.
The NNPC price reduction came barely a week after the Dangote refinery lowered its ex-depot price from N865 to N835 per litre.
The $20bn refinery also directed its partners like MRS, Heyden, and Ardova to sell a litre of petrol at the rate of N890 instead of N920 in Lagos, N900 in the South West, N910 in the South-South, and N920 in the North East.
Alexa News Nigeria observes that the new NNPC price in Lagos is N10 lower than that of the Dangote refinery, signalling another price war between the two companies.
Our correspondent reports that some NNPC filling stations are still selling at the old rate. But marketers said these stations were given the liberty to exhaust old stock before adjusting to the new prices.
In an interview with our correspondent, the National Vice President of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, confirmed the price reduction, stressing that filling station operators were losing money.
He told our correspondent that NNPC Retail sent a memo to its outlets to effect the new prices.
“It is confirmed that NNPC has reduced PMS prices. It is now N880 per litre in Lagos. They sent messages to their retail outlets. Some of them have already put the price at N880. However, they allow those having old stock to continue selling at the old rate. Some are still selling at N910.