The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has said that it cannot sell petrol at a loss, regardless of the demands of oil marketers, as it buys the commodity at one hundred and sixteen naira, twenty eight kobo per litre.
The NNPC announced this while responding to claims by oil marketers that the price of the product being sold to the marketers by the corporation was high and that this had led to the shutdown of many oil marketing firms nationwide.
The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, DAPPMAN said that the increase in the price of petrol sold to them by NNPC from one hundred and eleven naira per litre to one hundred and seventeen naira per litre had made many marketers to close shop because they were not making a profit.
The DAPPMAN Executive Secretary, Olufemi Adewole stated that a lot of jobs had been lost due to the shutdown of businesses by oil dealers, adding that this might trigger a widespread petrol crisis in the sector if not handled adequately.
The NNPC Group General Manager Public Affairs, Ndu Ughamadu, said that the government had made it clear that there was no plan to increase petrol price.
