No plan to increase fuel price in February, NNPC clarifies

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has ruled out any increment in the ex-depot price of petrol in February 2021 despite the rise in the price of crude oil in the international market.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Dr. Kennie Obateru, stated this in a statement yesterday, explaining that the decision was to allow the conclusion of ongoing engagements with the organised labour and other stakeholders on an acceptable framework that will not expose the ordinary Nigerians to any hardship.

NNPC, however, urged petroleum products marketers not to engage in the hoarding of petrol in order not to create artificial scarcity and unnecessary hardship for Nigerians, assuring that it has enough stock of petrol to keep the nation well supplied for about 40 days.

It further called on relevant regulatory authorities to step up monitoring of the activities of marketers with a view to sanctioning those involved in products hoarding or arbitrary increase of pump price.

It recalled that the nation’s downstream sector was deregulated in March 2020 with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, stating that the prices of petroleum products would be determined my prevailing market forces.