Federal Government says it will no longer release guiding price bands for the sale of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, at filling stations.
Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, which disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja, added that based on this, the downstream arm of the oil and gas sector had been fully deregulated.
PPPRA Executive Secretary, Abdulkadir Saidu, stated that going forward, PMS price would be determined by the forces of demand and supply and the international cost of crude oil.
But Saidu noted that the role of the agency would be to ensure that oil marketers do not profiteer, as every petrol dealer was, henceforth free to source for the product and fix their price.
“This, however, must be in accordance with our code of conduct because as a regulator, it is our duty to protect the consumer and operators must abide by our codes,” he said.
The PPPRA boss, who was represented by the agency’s General Manager, Administration and Human Resources, Victor Shidok, also confirmed reports that oil marketers had stopped importing petrol due to the scarcity of foreign exchange.