The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says the country’s petrol daily consumption figure stands at 46.38 million litres due to subsidy removal by the Federal Government.

The NMDPRA said the figure represented 35 per cent reduction when compared with the 65 million litres per day, prior to subsidy removal.

The Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Ahmed Farouk, disclosed this during a stakeholders meeting with oil and gas downstream operators in Lagos on Monday, July 17, 2023.

Farouk said: “An average truck out on daily basis for petrol consumption, after announcing subsidy removal on May 29, reduced to 46.38 million litres.

“The current daily consumption has drastically reduced as against 65 million litres which had been the daily consumption before subsidy removal.

“In January, it was 62 million per litre; February, 62 million per litre; March, 71.4 million per litre; April, 67.7 million per litre; May 66.6 million per litre; June, 49. 5 million per litre and July, 46.3 million per litres.”

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The NMDPRA boss said the essence of the meeting was to review the downstream sector after the subsidy removal and also to thank marketers who had taken the offer to import petrol.

On petrol importation, Farouk stated that over 56 companies applied for import licenses to bring in petrol, while only 10 made a commitment to import.

He disclosed that currently three marketers – Emadeb Energy, A.Y Shafa, and Prudent Energy – had imported petrol into the country.

He added that others, like 11 Plc, are also indicating interest to import petrol in August and September, respectively.

Farouk said: “The era of subsidy payment is gone, we encourage all marketers who are interested in importing petrol to apply for license.

“The meeting is to encourage marketers to import, so that there will be availability of petrol at every nooks and crannies of the nation.

“The marketers have the choice to fix their price, because it is a free market where there will be competition.

“It is no longer Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) dominating the market, there will be other players to compete with NNPCL.

“We do not want any dominant player in the market that was why we liberalised the market for everybody to play.”

Farouk stated that the NMDPRA was working with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to checkmate marketers from taking unduly advantage of the consumers.

He said the NMDPRA would ensure consumer protection at every station, adding that the quality of products import would be focused upon, to avoid substandard petrol.

“We will ensure safety, consumers protect, and standard in ensuring quality control within marketers,” Farouk stressed.

The Star