Fuel consumption hits 80million litres daily, subsidy skyrockets

 Fuel consumption hits 80million litres daily, subsidy skyrockets

The consumption of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, has risen to about 80 million litres daily, pushing up subsidy on the commodity to an estimated N484bn monthly, going by latest figures from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

An analysis of PMS weekly evacuation/dispatch data from March 4 – 10, 2023, obtained from NNPCL on Wednesday, indicated that a total of 558.83 million litres of petrol was evacuated during the period, translating to an average daily consumption of 79.83 million litres.

Around mid-last month, the Group Chief Executive, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said about 66 million litres of petrol was pumped daily into the market by the oil firm, as the company was spending about N202 on every litre of PMS consumed across the country.

“Today, by law and the provisions of the Appropriation Act, there is a subsidy on the supply of petroleum products, particularly PMS imports into our country. In current data terms, three days ago, the landing cost was around N315/litre.

 “Our customers are here; we are transferring to each of them at N113/litre. That means there is a difference of close to N202 for every litre of PMS we import into this country. In computation, N202 multiplied by 66.5 million litres, multiplied by 30 will give you over N400bn of subsidy every month,” the GCEO had stated.

Since January till date, the cost of crude oil has revolved around $83/barrel, while the official exchange rate has been about N460/$. Crude oil price and foreign exchange rate are the major determinants of refined petroleum products’ cost, according to operators.

Going by NNPCL’s latest fuel consumption figure of 79.83 million litres daily, and a subsidy of about N202/litre, it implies that the oil company would be spending an estimated N483.8bn to subsidise the commodity monthly. The PUNCH