Nigeria Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN) has explained why Nigerians are yet to enjoy cheaper Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) prices, even though global crude oil prices have plummeted.
Suspension of Naira-for-crude transactions, middlemen profiteering, and foreign exchange rate increases are the key factors contributing to the persistence of high fuel prices locally, according to CORAN. As a result of the global decline in crude prices, CORAN’s delegate, Eche Idoko, said that such problems continue to impact petrol prices in Nigeria.
The price of crude oil crashed over the weekend with Brent dropping to as low as $64 a barrel and WTI to $59.7. The decline has been linked to the economic effect of the tariff policy of US President Trump and an unexpected reduction in supply by OPEC+. But despite the global drop in price, fuel prices in Nigeria continue to rise.
“The price will continue to rise because these middlemen are the entities that would prefer that local refining is not continued,” Idoko said. “You have the FX effects, the logistics of shipping in refined petroleum products, and then the effect of the middlemen. All these combined result in high petroleum product costs in Nigeria.”.
Last week, prominent marketers such as MRS, a partner in Dangote Refinery, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), among others increased petrol pump prices. Petrol now retails at between N900 and N975 per litre at different points around the country. The hike comes after the Dangote Refinery halted petrol sales in Naira on March 19, 2025. The move came after the company and the Nigerian government through the NNPCL reached an impasse in the Naira-for-crude deal.
