Monday, November
13, 2017 / 09:02AM / FBNQuest Research
The National
Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released its latest premium motor spirit (PMS)
price watch report. It shows the average monthly price for PMS
(petrol/gasoline) paid by households across the country. In August it averaged
N144.5/litre (l) for the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, and therefore
was marginally below the fixed upper price limit for the retail pump price of
N145/l set by the authorities.
The average price of gasoline in September
represented a -1.2% y/y decrease, but increased by 0.1% m/m. Yobe State
recorded the highest price for PMS at N149.7/l while Abuja recorded the lowest
– N142.0/l.
A recent survey carried out by the NNPC revealed
that for most stations, fuel prices reduced in line with the prevailing market
situation in order to sustain the turnover of the business and to attract more
motorists.
Additionally, the CBN’s increased fx interventions
have led to improved fx liquidity. For petroleum marketers, the CBN recently
approved access to its fx official windows, thereby allowing for a better fx
blend as opposed to depending solely on the parallel market.
The
NNPC has begun resuscitating some of its critical pipelines across the country.
This should assist with enhancing efficiency in distribution as well as push
down prices of petroleum products.
There
has been increased private sector interest in petroleum refining. The country’s
current refining capacity utilisation is c.10%. Earlier this month, the
federal ministry of petroleum resources received applications for seven modular
refineries in Edo State. Three of these applications are currently at the
approval stage.