PPPRA: Open Market Price, Petrol Subsidy on Steady Rise

The expected open market price (EOMP) of petrol consumed in Nigeria has remained on a steady increase within the last couple of days, records obtained by THISDAY from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has disclosed.

The records indicated that between December 18 and 24, the EOMP rose from N174.81 to N182.53 per litre of petrol, an increase of N7.72 over the period.

According to the PPPRA records, the EOMP is the true market price for every litre of petrol imported and consumed in Nigeria. However, the federal government placed a price tab of N145 per litre on every litre of petrol imported and sold in Nigeria thus subsidising petrol consumption.

The data explained that the major cause of the rise in the EOMP was the changes in the price and freight charges for a metric tonne of petrol which moved from $637.40 to $670.38 between December 18 and 24.

The PPPRA noted that other cost elements often included in the EOMP calculation are lightering expenses; charges by Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); jetty throughput; storage and cost of financing remained unchanged.

A further analysis of the PPPRA EOMP for the period showed that on December 18, when the landing cost of petrol was N174.81, the country covered a subsidy cost of N29.81 per litre. It added that 78,105,760 litres of petrol were distributed to depots and service stations on that day thus indicating that N2.328 billion was incurred as subsidy for this volume of petrol used.

On December 19, the EOMP was N177.92 per litre leaving a subsidy figure of N32.92 which translated to a total subsidy cost of N2.385 billion when calculated against the 72,462,696 litres of petrol distributed on that day to depots and service stations.

Similarly, on December 20 when the EOMP rose to N180.22 leaving a subsidy balance of N35.22, the country incurred a total subsidy of N2.807 billion from the 79,706,549 litres of petrol distributed across the federation.

On December 23, the PPPRA records showed that the EOMP rose slightly to N180.78 leaving a subsidy balance of N35.78 and a total subsidy cost of N3.782 billion following the distribution of 105,717,120 litres of petrol in the country.

Further on December 24, the agency also noted that the EOMP rose to N182.53 which left the country with a subsidy per litre of N37.53 as well as a total of N3.575 billion in subsidy costs for the 95,257,779 litres of petrol that was distributed across the country.