Subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) will soon be removed by the Federal Government. With the removal, a litre of petrol will be sold for N140.
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who gave this hint at the Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) Conference in Abuja, stated categorically that the government could no longer sustain the subsidy on petrol.
The fuel ex-depot price of the commodity, without subsidy, is between N131 and 140 per litre. Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude exporter, which depends largely on importation of refined products to meet the 40 million litres daily fuel consumption due to insufficient refined capacity, has been spending millions of dollars on subsidy quarterly.
The country has been facing incessant scarcity of the products, the last of which was partly blamed on the rumoured plan to hike product’s price.
Addressing a delegation of stakeholders at the conference, Alison-Madueke said: “The major reforms of the downstream sector, as we have in the power sector, is underway.
This is the next step. “Continuing regulation of this sector has negative implication like subsidy. This subsidy cannot be sustained because it benefits the rich and not the poor as intended.” According to her, this downstream sector reforms will take the pattern of all other reforms by President Goodluck Jonathan.
“Much has been achieved in the oil and gas industry since the take over of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. We have commissioned the 180,000 barrels USAN field FPSO by Total.
The project is already producing 130,000 barrels per day. “We have revamped fuel depots like Enugu and Benin depots as well as pipelines (Gombe line). The establishment of Ogidigbe Gas Free Zone and the Uben-Geregu pipelines. “We have also secured $450 million funds for Calabar- Ajaokuta-Kano pipeline extension.
We have also taken critical Gas flare down programme and as a result of this, reduced gas by 20 per cent. “The government of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has also liaised with international community on crude oil theft.
One of this is the active crude oil theft session hosted by Nigeria at the Cambridge recently.
The response from our partners from foreign land has been encouraging and I can assure you that in no distance future, the crude theft, through this efforts and others, will be checked.
“In 2013 alone, all pipelines were severely vandalised and sabotaged at one point or the other.
This has led to resulting escalation of budget implementation and differed about 300, 000 oil production daily. “Most of our oil blocs in the onshore and shallow waters are already ageing. “We now have capacity for over three million barrels per day daily production.
JV has been underfunded in recent times.” On the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), Alison- Madueke said that the bill was meant “to be a holistic legislation and when passed, it would guarantee a lot more protection in the setbacks of 2.3 million barrels per day we had till the year 2013.”
Source: New Telegraph
