The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says the country’s daily petrol consumption figure stands at 46.38 million litres due to subsidy removal by the federal government.

NMDPRA chief executive Ahmed Farouk disclosed this during a stakeholders’ meeting with oil and gas downstream operators on Monday in Lagos.

The NMDPRA boss said the figure represented a 35 per cent reduction compared with the 65 million litres per day before subsidy removal.

According to him, an average truck out daily for petrol consumption, after announcing subsidy removal on May 29, reduced to 46.38 million litres.

“The current daily consumption has drastically reduced as against 65 million litres which had been the daily consumption before subsidy removal,” stated Mr Farouk. “In January, it was 62 million per litre; in February, 62 million per litre; in March, 71.4 million per litre; in April, 67.7 million per litre; in May, 66.6 million per litre; June, 49. 5 million per litre and in July, 46.3 million per litres.”

The NMDPRA boss added that the essence of the meeting was to review the downstream sector after the subsidy removal and also to thank marketers who had taken the offer to import petrol.

On petrol importation, Mr Farouk said over 56 companies applied for import licences to bring in petrol, while only 10 made a commitment to import, revealing that three marketers (Emadeb Energy, A.Y Shafa and Prudent Energy) had imported petrol into the country.

He added that others, like 11 Plc, indicated interest in importing petrol in August and September, respectively.

“The era of subsidy payment is gone. We encourage all marketers who are interested in importing petrol to apply for (a) licence. The meeting is to encourage marketers to import so that there will be availability of petrol at every nook and cranny of the nation,” Mr Farouk explained. “The marketers have the choice to fix their price because it is a free market where there will be competition.”

The NMDPRA chief executive stressed that it was no longer Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) dominating the market, “there will be other players to compete with NNPCL.”

“We do not want any dominant player in the market. That was why we liberalised the market for everybody to play,” Mr Farouk emphasised.

Mr Farouk also pointed out that the authority was working with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to checkmate marketers from taking unduly advantage of the consumers.

He said the NMDPRA would ensure consumer protection at every station, adding that the quality of products imported would be focused upon to avoid substandard petrol.

(NAN)