Energy
Petrol’s Pump Price Skyrockets From 6 Kobo To 61,700 Kobo
The astronomical increment of the pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as, petrol has seen it rise from 6 Kobo/litre in 1970 to 61,700/litre as at August 27, 2023.
Data sourced from various online sources by Biztellers indicate that the pump price of petrol has been increased a record 29 times since the Gen Yakubu Gowon regime fixed the price at 6 kobo in 1970.
It stood at that rate for three years before the same government adjusted it to 8 Kobo in 1973.
And by 1978, when the then Gen Olusegun Obasanjo adjusted the pump price to 15 Kobo, Nigerians cried out in anguish.
The first civilian government to tinker with the pump price of petrol was the President Shehu Shagari regime, which adjusted it to 20 Kobo/litre.
That was in 1983 after Shagari had managed the 15 Kobo price it inherited from Obasanjo for more than four years, dating back to 1978.
The price stability was maintained during the tenure of the Gen Muhammadu Buhari military regime of 1984. Even his successor, Gen Ibrahim Bagandiga didn’t adjust the price until 1986, when it was adjusted to 39 Kobo/litre.
Two years down the line, Gen Babangida increased it again to 42 Kobo, before adjusting it to 68 Kobo in 1990 and 70 Kobo in 1991.
Increases in pump price of petrol had always attracted public outcry with civil society rising in one accord against the move by government.
The Interim Government led by Ernest Shonekan jerked it up from 70 Kobo to N5/litre in 1992 with the attendant public uprising enough to consume the government.
Gen Sanni Abacha shoved Shonekan aside and reduced the pump price to N3 25 Kobo, only to jerk it up to N15 in 1994 amidst fuel scarcity that threatened the economy.
When the masses rose up against the move, Gen Abacha reduced it to N11/litre in 1995, before Gen Adulsalam Abubakar who took over after the demise of Gen Abacha pegged the pump price of petrol at N25 in 1998.
The level of public outcry that greeted the move, compelled Gen Abubakar to reduce it to N20/litre 1999.
When Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was elected President in 1999, he tinkered with the pump price of petrol six times in his eight-year tenure.
He first adjusted it to N50/liter in 2002, the back to N22/litre and up to N26/litre the same year, before moving it up to N42/litre in 2003, N65/lite in 2004 and N75/litre in 2007.
Obasanjo’s successor, President Umar Yaradua, in an apparent response to public lamentation, reduced the pump price of petrol to N65/litre.
Yaradua’s tenure was short-lived, and his success, President Goodluck Jonathan, who was in office for about six years, tinkered with the pump price of petrol for three times.
Under Jonathan, Nigerians saw the pump price of petrol move to N141/litre in 2010, back to N97/litre the same year, and down to N87/litre in 2011.
The pump price of petrol had become a tool in the hands of politicians and those desperate to hang on to power had to pander to popular sentiments, hence, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under President Jonathan’s leadership had to toy with the idea of reducing pump price of petrol.
Then came the All Progressives Congress (APC) with President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
The former military ruler was in power for eight years, taking his two four-year terms as President, within which period he tinkered with the pump price of petrol several times in a fluctuating manner that tended to reflect his government’s negotiating power with restive civil society groups.
In 2015, President Buhari increased the petrol to N141/litre and in 2016 to N165/litre, before pegging it at N180/litre in 2020, where it was until he left office in May 2023.
N180/litre was where the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration met it and on May 29, 2023, before the popular ‘subsidy is gone’ anchor mounted pressure on the prices and saw it hit the roof.
President Tinubu’s less than three-month tenure has seen pump price of petrol adjusted twice from N180 where he met it to N480/litre in June to N617/litre where it is hovering at the moment.
Sadly, it does appear that the current price per litre is a mere suggestion around which marketers could weave their profit, though some do so unscrupulously.
Recall that Commissioner for Special Duties, Enugu State, Emeka Ajogwu, on Friday, while on an unscheduled visit to some petrol stations in the Enugu metropolis to ascertain the alleged metre manipulation by filling station owners, cautioned them against ‘sharp practices’.
According to him, “Over 20 filing stations visited adjusted their metres and sold between N600- N620 per litre, respectively.
“It was confirmed that for every 20 litres of petrol bought, consumers were shortchanged to the tune of N768.60, N702, N682.00, N575.00, N441.60, N480.00, and N256.20 respectively.”
Sadly, this situation is replicated across Nigeria, and the pressure on the Foreign Exchange Market in addition to fluctuating global crude prices tend to guarantee that these incessant increment would continue in the domestic market.
Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo) rode on new wells, optimized reservoir and optimal facility management to produce more oil at Bonga in 2023 than the previous one, a review of operations has shown.
Biztellers reports that Nigeria’s first deep-water development produced some 138,000 barrels of oil per day (boepd) in 2023 compared to around 101,000 in 2022.
The improvement, Biztellers gathered, was driven by drilling of new wells, optimising reservoir and facility management and excellent asset management, inter alia.
Managing Director, SNEPCo, Elohor Aiboni, said, “Bonga continues to justify the investments and hard work that led to its discovery.
“The uptick in production is the result of commitment by staff, continuous improvements in production processes and maintenance and the support of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC) and our co-venture partners – TotalEnergies Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Agip Exploration and Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited.
“Working together, we will continue to power lives and deliver value to all stakeholders.”
Recall that Bonga began production in November 2005 through the 225,000-barrels-per-day capacity Bonga FPSO, anchored 120 kilometres offshore. The FPSO exported the 1 billionth barrel of oil last year.
The operations have resulted in remittance of taxes and royalties to the Government of Nigeria to finance development, development of indigenous contactors and service providers, and a wide-ranging social investment portfolio which has improved lives across the country.
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has reassured industry stakeholders that oil and gas service companies that have established capacities in the country will continue to enjoy patronage.
The Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe made this commitment on Friday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State when he led officials of the Board and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) to visit companies that deliver pipe coating and related services.
The team visited Brightwaters Energy Limited, formerly known as Willbros Nigeria Ltd, Solewant Nigeria Limited and Pipe Coaters Nigeria, managed by Tenaris Nigeria Ltd.
According to the ES, the visits were to assess the companies’ facilities and determine how the Board can galvanize the industry to patronise them.
He underscored the importance of getting first-hand information on in-country capabilities before making key decisions on oil and gas projects. He insisted that operating companies must support and patronise local oil and gas service companies in compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.
Ogbe emphasized that activities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry must be used to create employment opportunities for the nation’s teeming youths and help to resuscitate the economy, in line with the aspirations of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
The Chief Executive Officer of Brightwaters Energy Limited, Scott Gregory thanked the ES for leading the visit while highlighting that Brightwaters carried out Nigeria’s first pipe coating in 1962.
He recalled that the facility had 3,000 employees some years back, executing various spheres of oil and gas projects. He conveyed the management’s aspiration to return the
firm to those high-performance levels and sought the Board’s support to win oil and gas projects that would resuscitate the sprawling facility.
“We feel that we can be a positive contributor to Nigeria through the capacities that we have. We want to bring real, true value to the table,” he added.
He admitted that the coating facility had suffered downtime, but assured that the plant would be up and running within 60 days of the award of a new contract.
The Chairman of Tenaris Nigeria, Dr. Ernest Nwapa welcomed the NCDMB’s team to PCNL’s facilities.
He commended the efforts made by the agency to push local content in the industry, attributing it to the good culture that had been established at the Board over the years.
Nwapa, who was the pioneer Executive Secretary of the NCDMB expressed delight that some of the oil and gas projects that had been pending for nearly ten years were now being developed and expressed hope that existing local capacities would be maximized in the execution of those projects.
The team was taken around the company’s facilities and shown the various equipment of PCNL in readiness for the award of new contracts.
Nwapa pledged the commitment of the company to meet the expectations of clients as well as allow them to participate in the supervision of the work in their factory.
The PCNL facility covers an area of 160,000 m2 in the Onne Free Trade Zone. The company offers Anticorrosion, CWC, Thermal Insulation, Internal and Bends Coating plants as well as Double Jointing and Anode Installation Facilities.
At Solewant Group, an EPCI and Pipe Coating Company, the NCDMB delegation was shown round the company’s facilities as well as the new investments, such as the 5mega watts generators, procured to guarantee power supply to the facility.
Accompanying Engr. Ogbe on the facility visits were the Director Projects Certification and Authorization Division (PCAD), Engr. Abayomi Bamidele, General Manager PCAD, Engr. Maurice Iwhiwhu, Special Technical Assistant (STA) to the Executive Secretary, Engr. Mofe Megbele, Deputy Manager, Corporate Communications, Mr. Obinna Ezeobi, and other staff members of the Board.
The SPDC team was led by the General Manager, Nigerian Content Development, Mr.Lanre Olawuyi.
The NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NNPC E&P Ltd), NNPC Ltd’s flagship upstream subsidiary, and Natural Oilfield Services Ltd (NOSL), a subsidiary of Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Company Ltd (SEEPCO), has announced the successful commencement of oil production at Oil Mining Lease (OML) 13 in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
Biztellers reports that the production commenced on the 6th of May 2024 with 6,000 barrels of oil with expectations to be ramped up to 40,000 barrels per day by May 27th, 2024.
The first oil flow from OML 13 is a historic milestone in the partnership between NNPC E&P Ltd and NOSL, highlighting their dedication to driving growth and development in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, which remains a vital component of the nation’s economy.
The achievement does not only signify the culmination of rigorous planning and execution by the teams involved, but also represents a new era of economic empowerment and development opportunities for the host communities.
Furthermore, for Nigeria, the first oil from OML 13 holds some significance as it contributes to the country’s efforts to increase its oil production capacity, which is crucial for meeting domestic energy needs and driving economic growth.
The NNPC E&P Ltd and NOSL partnership is also committed to operating in a manner that is safe, environmentally responsible, and beneficial to the local communities.
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