Deregulation not licence for profiteering, Lokpobiri warns oil marketers
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, yesterday warned that the Federal Government would not tolerate profiteering in the downstream petroleum sector under the guise of deregulation, insisting that marketers must adjust petrol prices to reflect the recent decline in global crude oil prices.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting on cost-reflective pricing of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) convened by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in Abuja, Lokpobiri said deregulation was introduced to promote efficiency and competition, not to encourage arbitrary pricing at the expense of Nigerians.
“We will not accept profiteering under the excuse of a deregulated market,” the minister said according to a report by The Nations newspaper on Monday.
According to him, “Deregulation is intended to improve efficiency and competition, not to allow excessive pricing or unfair profit-taking at the expense of consumers.”
Lokpobiri cautioned petroleum marketers against continuing to base pump prices on previously acquired high-cost fuel inventories when prevailing market conditions have changed.
He said, “Petroleum marketers should not continue charging high prices based on earlier expensive inventories when global crude prices have since dropped.”
The minister warned that keeping petrol prices artificially high despite the fall in crude oil prices could undermine the government’s economic objectives.
“Maintaining artificial high fuel prices could amount to sabotage of government’s efforts aimed at stimulating economic growth,” he said, adding that such pricing practices could further worsen inflation.
