Fuel

The Federal Government has said it regrets that the petroleum refineries are not working while ruling out the possibility of introducing subsidies on Automotive Gas Oil. It stated that it could not afford the payment of subsidies on diesel. The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, made this known in Abuja on Tuesday. The House of Representatives’ Committee on Downstream had summoned stakeholders in the oil and gas sector to an investigative hearing over the scarcity and rising prices of Premium Motor Spirit (petro), AGO also known as diesel, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) in the country. Those grilled by the lawmakers were Kyari, who is the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company; and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, among others. In his presentation, the CEO of the NMDPRA suggested three measures to be taken to address the challenges with the supply and distribution chain. He said, “The required amount of forex for importation of the petroleum products (should) be made available to the genuine importers at CBN official rate.”

Punch