The price of kerosene used by several families have jumped to N800 per litre just as the market is beginning to adjust to the newly increased petrol and gas prices. Market survey by The PUNCH on Tuesday showed that one litre of cooking kerosene, sold for N700 last week, now sells for between N800 and N850 in urban parts of Lagos State, while the price has hit as high as N1000 per litre in suburb areas at filling stations. In Ghana, the price of a litre of cooking kerosene currently sells for GHS 12.044 (N585) per litre. Unlike petrol, kerosene is a deregulated product- meaning prices are determined by market forces. “It’s a deregulated market. It is also a function of the dollar to naira rate and the crude price at the international market. Since cooking kerosene is deregulated, prices can go up, it can also come down,” National Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi told the PUNCH. As of June, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS, had reported an 88 per cent rise in prices of cooking kerosene and Liquefied Petroleum Gas within in one year. According to the NBS report on “National Household Kerosene Price Watch,” the price of cooking kerosene went up by 86.94 per cent in one year.

Punch