The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri,has declared that the oil and gas industry is now fully deregulated.
He told journalists at the end of the inaugural meeting of the Petroleum Industry Stakeholders Forum (PISF) in Abuja on Thursday.
He explained that the essence of deregulation in Nigeria’s petrol market is to allow prices to adjust based on global oil prices.
He said the government focuses on quality control and ensuring consumers receive the correct quantity,adding that the development aims to eliminate queues and enhance market efficiency, ultimately benefiting consumers through better pricing and availability.
He said: “The whole essence of deregulation is for price to find its level. Before now you will agree with me that every day you were hearing negative news about petrol subsidies. Today, you journalists have no negative news about petrol subsidies because it is completely regulated, and price will find its level.
“As oil price goes up, petrol price will go up and as oil price comes down, price will come up. During the Christmas season, I was in Bayelsa, and I tried to go around different filling stations. Some filling stations were selling N1,020, others were selling N999, while others were selling N1,015.
“What we are concerned about, and I’ve always had that discussion with you, with the Authority Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, is that the government is more interested in quality control. Government is more interested in availability and what the government is particularly interested in is dispensation of the right quantity.
“If you are buying 10 litres of PMS, let it be that you are not short changed by the retail filling station. That is where we have issues.And once there is competition, people have a choice, and that’s why you don’t see any queues”.
