Some oil marketers have increased the price of diesel or Automotive Gas Oil to N265 per litre in line with the recent rise in global oil prices.
This is the second time the marketers will increase the pump price of the fuel this year as the price of the product was increased to about N250 per litre in late February.
It was observed on Monday that some filling stations in Lagos State sold the product for between N248 and N265 per litre while some put the price at between N220 and N245 per litre.
Mobil filling station along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Nipco at Fadeyi axis of Ikorodu Road increased the pump price of diesel to N265 per litre; while Forte Oil at Onipanu sold it for N255 per litre.
The National Bureau of Statistics, in its latest AGO price watch report, said the average price paid by consumers for diesel increased by 1.29 per cent to N227.76 in February from to N224.86 in January.
“States with the highest average price of diesel were Zamfara (N268.78), Adamawa (N263.33) and Kebbi (N257.50). States with the lowest average price of diesel were Osun (N206.50), Ekiti (N207.86) and Plateau (N208.57),” it said.
Crude oil price accounts for a large chunk of the final cost of petroleum products, and the deregulation of the downstream oil sector by the Federal Government means that the pump prices of the products will reflect changes in the international oil market.
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The international oil benchmark, Brent crude, had risen above the $70 per barrel mark on March 8 for the first time in over 14 months from the $51.22 per barrel at which it closed last year. It stood at $64.43 per barrel as of 7:03pm Nigerian time on Monday.
The National Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Mike Osatuyi, said the prices of diesel and kerosene had been increased because of the rise in crude oil prices.
“Marketers are importing diesel because it has been deregulated and the pump price is based on the current crude oil prices. We get foreign exchange from the black market to import the product,” he said.
