The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has announced the reduction in the retail price of the Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, across its retail outlets in the country to contest with its major competitor, Dangote price rates.
The latest price cut comes barely two weeks after the NNPCL reduced the pump price in Lagos to N945 per litre and Dangote Refinery implemented a reduction in the price of the same commodity across the MRS stations and its affiliate filling stations.
The latest price reduction means both NNPCL retail stations and MRS now sell at the same price per liter.
This development, according to the Chief Executive Officer, Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, represents one of the major gains inherent in deregulation. He nonetheless cautioned that the evolving competition must be between producers and not producers and importers for it to be a fair competition.
The Dangote refinery and the NNPCL’s Port Harcourt refinery are currently the only petrol producers in Nigeria. However, the queues usually seen at NNPC stations have vanished to other private filling stations like MRS, due to the price differential and the claim that the Dangote petrol lasts longer in fuel tanks than others.
