The Federal Government expressed concern over the rising international prices of crude oil, saying the increase is not good for the country.
The government bemoaned waning foreign investment in the oil and gas sector, and reiterated the need to float an African Energy Bank to curb the continent’s dependence on Europe, Asia and America for funding.
Also, Nigerian National Petroleum Company NNPC released details of how it distributed a total of 387.59 million litres of petrol in the last one week to bridge the gap caused by the withdrawal of methanol-blended products in circulation.
This was as the House of Representatives Committee on Downstream investigating the importation of off-spec premium motor spirit PMS grilled other importers and suppliers of the product.
Speaking on the rising crude oil prices in an interview, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, maintained that Nigeria’s comfort zone in terms of oil prices was between 70 and 80 dollars per barrel.
Although Sylva did not particularly explain why higher oil prices were bad for Nigeria, he stated that at the moment, Nigeria was not gaining anything from the soaring prices.
