Average price of petroleum products across the 36 states of the federation have recorded some increases in the month of August, 2019, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistic, NBS, has said. The agency, in its latest report on the prices of petroleum products, stated that average price per litre paid by consumers for household kerosene increased 10.80 percent year-on-year, YoY, to N319.94 last month. The current price represents 1.24 percent rise month-on-month, MoM, from N316.03 in July, 2019.
A breakdown of the prices in the various states shows that states with the highest average price per litre of kerosene were Abia Enugu, and Ebonyi States, at N375.55, N365.47 and N358.33 respectively. It also shows states with the lowest average price per litre of kerosene were Abuja (N245.50), Kwara (N261.11) and Benue (N261.90). The agency did not indicate the reason for the development but other industry sources show a government’s policy shift in favour of gas for domestic cooking. A report obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, also shows a decline of kerosene importation from 139.6 million in the first quarter of the year, Q1’19, to 85.5 million liters in the Q2’19, indicating a huge shortfall in the supply of the product.
Conversely, in another report, on Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, popularly known as cooking gas, the average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder cooking gas decreased by -1.21 percent MoM and by -2.62 percent YoY to N2,000 in August 2019 from N2,024.80 in July 2019. According to the agency, “States with the highest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Cooking Gas were Adamawa (N2,488.75), Bauchi (N2,468.89) and Borno (N2,391.07). “States with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) were Osun (N1,694.44), Enugu (N1,718.05) and Abuja (N1,739.17).” However, the report further stated: “Average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for Cooking Gas increased by 0.09 percent month-on-month and decreased by -3.35 percent year-on-year to N4, 220.11 in August 2019 from N4, 216.29 in July 2019.”
On average price paid by consumers for Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popularly known as petrol, the report indicated a -1.0 percent decrease YoY and 0.3 percent increase MoM to N145.5 in August 2019 from N145.0 in July 2019. States with the lowest average price of petrol were Katsina (N142.50), Zamfara (N144.33) and Kaduna (N144.68). States with the highest average price of petrol were Bayelsa (N146.78), Cross River (N146.76) and Kogi (N146.75). Vanguard
Pix: Cooking gas
