The Federal Government on Thursday said
it had directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to clear the
petrol queues that had refused to disappear in Abuja and neighboring
states before the commencement of the 2018 Nigeria International
Petroleum Summit.
It also stated that the Federal Ministry
of Petroleum Resources and some of its agencies were working out
measures that would ensure the retention of pump price of petrol at N145
per liter despite a landing cost of about N171 per liter.
The Minister of State for Petroleum
Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, told journalists at a press conference in Abuja
that it would not be nice to have international guests face petrol
queues in the Federal Capital Territory when they attend the 2018 NIPS,
which begins on Sunday.
He said, “As for the fuel queues that
you see out there, we are working round the clock; the NNPC is also
working round the clock on this. If you remember when it first started
in December (2017), it was a lot more massive, but Lagos is largely fuel
queue free and a lot of the state capitals are.
“Abuja is still struggling because of
some logistics issues. We’ve instructed the NNPC to do whatever it takes
to ensure that I do not bring visitors here next week and they will
experience fuel queues. They (NNPC) will have to do whatever it takes to
get this eliminated in Abuja and that is the directive I’ll be sending
to the NNPC.
“Let them (NNPC) work night and day and
put a lot more effort in trying to do this. But I can tell you that
behind the scenes, a lot of meetings are taking place. This is because
the fuel queue issue is both a logistics and a policy issue.”
The minister stated that the government
would need to address the fundamental policy issues to enable the queues
go away, “especially in an area where the pricing puts pressure between
the landing price and the sale price.”
Kachikwu said, “So, we need to work out
ways to see what we need to do to continue to sell at N145 per liter.
The President is obviously very committed to keeping the price of fuel
at the cost where it is. We don’t intend to increase the price again and
so we need to work backwards, and this requires a lot of efficiency
re-engineering.
“So, give a bit of time, be patient, but
I do take your point. I will hate it for my colleagues to come here and
see fuel queues happening and so my directive for the NNPC will be
whatever it takes, get those queues out of Abuja over the period.”
On the falling cost of crude in the
international market as a result of the rising sale of shale oil,
Kachikwu noted that the government was not ruffled by the development.
He said, “In terms of the price of
petroleum products, I don’t think we need to be panicky about it. We are
not ruffled by it and I know it has come down to around $60 per barrel
now. Shale is going to be active. Whenever we are in excess of $65,
shale becomes very active.
“But I’ve always said that two things
need to happen. First, OPEC needs to just focus on itself and focus on
what it needs to do and forget what is happening in shale. The second
thing is that every OPEC producer must work hard to be a least cost
producer. Because the truth is that if shale can be produced at $65,
then there is absolutely no reason why we should be struggling.”
He added, “So, the fundamentals of our
earnings, how efficient we are and our cost of production are the things
we have to do internally.
“There should be fundamental rejigging
of production models to ensure that you get the very best. One nice
thing about low prices is that they force everybody to abandon high cost
of production.”
On refineries, Kachikwu said before the
end of March this year, the government would sign the requisite
contracts that would lead to the re-kitting of the facilities.
This, however, will happen if the President gives the required approval, according to the minister.
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