The fixing of petroleum products’ prices is denying the country investment in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry and depriving Nigerians certain benefits from the country’s petroleum resources, industry stakeholders said on Thursday.
The Federal Government currently regulates the prices of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, and kerosene, and subsidises their prices to enable Nigerians to get the products at the regulated prices.
The regulated price of petrol is currently N87 per litre while that of kerosene is N50 per litre. But the products are sold above the regulated prices in parts of the country, despite government’s subsidy.
The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, in his address at the National Association of Energy Correspondents’ conference in Lagos, said, “Subsidy creates distortions in government revenue distribution as a result of round-tripping and unnecessary carry-over of expenditures every year in a way that is difficult for government to control or sustain.”