21 Jul 2021

Subsidy Removal: Fuel Price Will Not Rise To N1000/litre – DPR

Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says fuel price will not rise to N1,000/litre if the subsidy is removed.

Gatekeepers News reports that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has urged the public to disregard the headline that stated that the price of PMS could rise to N1,000/litre upon the subsidy removal without alternative energy.

The Head, Public Affairs DPR, Paul Osu, in a statement, said the news which was published by an online media (not Gatekeepers News) on the rise in the pump price was a misinterpretation of the comments made by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) regarding subsidy removal.

Osu added that the publication’s headline is “misleading” as the comments of the Director/Chief Executive Officer, DPR, Sarki Auwalu, were “clearly taken out of context.”

He noted that the “Director specifically created a scenario of price instability of PMS based on the current dollar to naira differentials to the effect that if Nigeria continues to rely on the importation of PMS without creating alternative energy sources like CNG, LNG, AUTOGAS, etc. which will provide price buffers for consumers and ultimately crash the price of PMS, then the product will be subject to prevailing market forces.”

According to him, the Director further re-emphasized that the strategy for alternative energy sources is a cardinal program of the government, which has led to the declaration of the Decade of Gas (DoG) to migrate the Nigerian economy to a gas-based economy by 2030.”

Osu stated that the Department would continue to enable businesses and create opportunities through its downstream focus on Quality, Quantity, Integrity, and safety (QQIS).