The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said its recent intervention which led to a 42 per cent fall in the price of diesel has continued to sustain a downward trend across the country.
NNPC in a statement said a national survey by its weekly TV programme, Oil and Gas Forum, indicated that in the last few weeks, the price of diesel fell steadily from between N175 and N200 per litre as at June 18, 2017, to between N155 and N160 per litre in some stations.
The study showed that NNPC Mega stations and its affiliates sold the product for N160 per litre while many major and independent marketers in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna, Onitsha, Enugu, Makurdi and most major cities were selling at between N160 and N165 per litre. In Port Harcourt, the average price is as low as N150 per litre.
The manager of a fuel retail station in Abuja, Ibrahim Isa, said the station had to reduce the selling price to N165 per litre in line with the prevailing market situation in order to sustain the turnover of the business.
An independent marketer in Makurdi, Innocent Abbah, said the going ex-depot price of diesel from local private depots was N155 per litre.
However, the situation is slightly different in Asaba and Warri in Delta State and Uyo in Akwa Ibom State where most independent fuel stations as well as major marketers sold the product for N180 per litre.
NNPC recalled that the price of AGO crashed by about 42 per cent nationwide, a huge downslide over the last six months, following NNPC's key strategic interventions.
In first quarter 2017, retail prices of diesel, which is one of the deregulated products, shot up to an all-time high of N300/litre in major demand centres across the country.
The unpleasant situation placed a huge burden on truck drivers who use the product as fuel for their vehicles and the nation's manufacturing sector which requires it to run its operations, as well as on the masses who need it for household power generation.
At stations operated by major marketer, Oando in Wuse, Central Area, Maitama, Jabi and Lugbe, a litre of the product, our reporter gathered has declined from N220 per litre to around N185.
At Total stations also in Central Area, Wuse, Maitama and Airport Road, a litre of diesel sold for N195.
An attendant at NIPCO station located in Airport Road told our reporter the product has been selling for N165 per litre in the last three weeks. The same price was displayed at the station's outlets in the satellite towns.
At a Mobil station on Obafemi Awolowo Road, Jabi, an attendant said although the station had run out of stock of the product for some time, diesel was sold at N200 per litre the last time the station dispensed the product.
Some users of the product said they expect to see more downward trend in the prices of the product in the next two months.
Mr Abdul Bello, a welder said he relies more on diesel generator than the conventional electricity. "Before, we charge double price for welding services using diesel generator, with the crash in the diesel price, we have actually reduced our rates since last week and we hope to do more if the decrease is sustained," he said.
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