Following the hike in the cost of the Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and various depot owners, the pump prices of have risen to between N1,050 and N1,150/litre depending on the area of purchase.

Dealers confirmed that PMS prices would continue to rise since the major component in fuel production, crude oil, has been on the upward swing lately.

The National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Festus Osifo, earlier alluded to this when he pointed out that petrol prices might soon rise if the cost of crude oil continued to increase.

“The crude price rose to $80 per barrel today (Thursday). Without exchange rate improvements, PMS prices will increase in the coming weeks,” Osifo stated in Lagos.

On Friday, there was an upward adjustment in the price of petrol produced by the Dangote Petrochemical Refinery.

The $20bn plant raised its PMS from N899/litre to N955/litre at its loading gantry.

The refinery, in an email statement sent to its customers and obtained by one of our correspondents, said its refined products would now be priced at the new cost.

It noted that marketers buying between two million and 4.99 million litres would now buy at N955/litre, while five million litres and above would buy at N950/litre.

The amount marks an increase of N55.5 or 6.17 per cent from N899.50/litre announced as a holiday discount for Nigerians last December.

This adjustment applies to all stock balances yet to be lifted by the stated time, while pending stock as of the effective time will also be repriced at the updated rates.

The statement added that the new price regime took effect from 5:30pm on Friday.