by Dolapo Adelana

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said there are no plans to increase the pump price of petrol.

The corporation made the clarification in a statement by Mr Ndu Ughamadu, its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division.

He explained that the recent increase in bridging allowance to transporters from N6.20 to N7.20 per litre would not lead to an increase in the pump price.

”There is no plan by the government or any of its agencies to review the pump price of petrol above N145 per litre.

”The rise in the bridging cost was achieved after an adjustment was made in the “lightering expenses” from N4 to N3 per litre and the difference transferred to compensate for the cost of bridging within the same template.”

Bridging allowance refers to the cost element built into the products pricing template to ensure a uniform price of petrol across the country.

Lightering expenses involve charges for moving products to depot area from mother vessels by light vessels due to the inability of the former to berth in shallow water depth.

”What happened, in simple language, is a rebalancing of the margins allowed and approved for stakeholders.

”So what the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, did was to take N1 from lightering expenses and add same to the bridging allowance.

”That is how we arrived at N7.20. Therefore, PMS remains at the ceiling of N145 per litre,’’ it said.

The statement said the country had 1.3 billion litres of petrol as at Wednesday which translated to an inventory of 36 days.

“What this means is that even if we stop importation or refining of petrol right now, we have enough products in-country to provide for the needs of every Nigerian for a period of 36 days.’’

He noted that the supply availability was bolstered with the production of petrol from the three refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.

“There is absolutely no risk of shortage in supply as we also continue to import to support the production from the refineries.

”we have informed the Department of Petroleum Resources to enforce the prevailing N145 per litre price regime and also ensure that every service station that has fuel is selling to the public,’’ he said.