ON Monday, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mele Kyari, revealed that Nigeria would no longer pay subsidy on petrol following the fall in global oil price.

This development was announced in a statement by NNPC’s spokesperson Kennie Obateru, who spoke on behalf of Kyari at a television programme in Abuja.

“There is no subsidy and it is zero forever, going forward there will be no resort to either subsidy or under-recovery of any nature.

“NNPC will play in the marketplace, it will just be another marketer in the space. But we will be there for the country to sustain the security of supply at market price,” he said.

He said that NNPC was a transparent organisation, saying the National Oil Company was probably the only company in the world that published its monthly financial and operations reports.

During the interview, he said as of  April 5, Nigeria produced 2.3 million barrels of crude oil, including condensates stating the plan was for the country to ramp up production to 3 million barrels per day in the nearest future.

He admitted that though the COVID-19 pandemic had ground demand and supply fundamentals, all Nigeria’s export terminals were still in operations.

“The key issue in the crude oil business is market fundamentals of demand and supply. I believe COVID-19 will subside and countries will come back to life.

“I don’t see the oil price going below the $20 we witnessed last week. I’m certain, all things being equal, the oil price will bounce back,” he added. The NNPC’s helmsman assured Nigerians of ample supply and distribution of petroleum products.

He said the corporation had in stock about 2.6 billion litres of petroleum products that could serve the country’s energy needs for the next two months, stating that the NNPC was collaborating with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the supply and distribution value chain was not disrupted to guarantee energy security for the country.