The pump price of petrol may hit N900 per litre this week if the price of crude oil continues to hover around $70 per barrel.
This was even as OPEC+, a group that comprises non-members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September.
Our correspondent reports that depots in Nigeria have raised petrol gantry prices from an average of N820 on Thursday to N870. However, many filling stations still retained petrol N865 and N875 between Lagos and Ogun States.
Throughout the weekend, it was observed that the gantry prices remained high, but filling stations did not rush to make any major meter adjustments. On Saturday, the Matrix filling station at Kara along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway displayed N910 on its price board. On Sunday, the Rainoil filling station in Ibafo sold the product at N900 per litre.
Marketers said the filling stations changing prices might have got new supplies at the latest prices, adding that everything would be clear this week.
According to Petroleumprice.ng, Aiteo, Aipec, A.A. Rano and Emadeb put their ex-depot prices at N865 as of Sunday. NIPCO, Matrix, Sahara and Bono sold the product to retailers at N87O. While Dangote offered the lowest cost of N858, companies like Fynefield, Mainland, Sigmund, Ever and Zone 4’s prices were as high as N900 on Sunday.
Speaking with The PUNCH, the National Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, said the volatility in the exchange rate and prices of crude oil is affecting fuel prices.
Fashola said stakeholders should wait till Monday to know what will happen with the prices. “Let’s wait till Monday,” he said in a chat with our correspondent.
Meanwhile, OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September, the latest in a series of accelerated output hikes to regain market share, as concerns mount over potential supply disruptions linked to Russia.
According to Reuters, the move marked a full and early reversal of OPEC+’s largest tranche of output cuts plus a separate increase in output for the United Arab Emirates amounting to about 2.5 million bpd, or about 2.4 per cent of the world’s demand.
Eight OPEC+ members held a brief virtual meeting, amid increasing US pressure on India to halt Russian oil purchases, part of Washington’s efforts to bring Moscow to the negotiating table for a peace deal with Ukraine.
In a statement following the meeting, OPEC+ cited a healthy economy and low stocks as reasons behind its decision. Oil prices have remained elevated even as OPEC+ has increased output, with Brent crude closing near $70 a barrel on Friday, up from a 2025 low of nearly $58 in April, supported in part by rising seasonal demand.
“Given fairly strong oil prices at around $70, it does give OPEC+ some confidence about market fundamentals,” said Amrita Sen, co-founder of Energy Aspects, adding that the market structure was also indicating tight stocks.
The eight countries are scheduled to meet again on September 7, when they may consider reinstating another layer of output cuts totalling around 1.65 million bpd, two OPEC+ sources said following Sunday’s meeting. Those cuts are currently in place until the end of next year.
OPEC+ includes 10 non-OPEC oil-producing countries, most notably Russia and Kazakhstan. The group, which pumps about half of the world’s oil, had been curtailing production for several years to support oil prices. It reversed course this year in a bid to regain market share, spurred in part by calls from Trump for OPEC to ramp up production.
The eight began raising output in April with a modest hike of 138,000 bpd, followed by larger-than-planned hikes of 411,000 bpd in May, June and July, 548,000 bpd in August and now 547,000 bpd for September.
