The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, on Monday, said Nigerians would soon get used to hike in the price of fuel.
Sylva also said the petrol price would always increase whenever the oil rate had gone up.
He spoke in an interview with State House correspondents after a meeting he had with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, “Petrol is refined from crude oil, so the petrol price is directly related to the price of crude oil in the market.
“So, if I buy crude oil at a certain price and refine this month if the crude price is low at the time, then my petrol price will become low because the feedstock from which I refined petrol was lower in price.
“If the price of crude oil goes up, then it means the price of the feedstock has gone higher, it will also affect the price of the refined product and that is why you see that product prices are usually not static, it depends on the price of crude oil, which goes up and down.”
Sylva added, “If you have been following crude oil prices, you would have seen that crude oil prices went up a little bit, as a result of this (vaccine) announcement.
“So, when crude oil prices go up a little bit, then you will see that it instantly reflects on the price of petrol, which is a derivative of crude oil. That’s why you see that there’s this movement and if we listen to ourselves, this is the same explanation we’ve been giving.”
The minister said because of deregulation, the government was no longer in the business of fixing fuel price.
He further said, “Just take the example of our production levels; our crude oil production level was over two million barrels a day. Today, to comply with OPEC cut and quota, we have reduced production to 1.4 million barrels.
“Having reduced production to 1.4 million barrels, crude oil is also not selling at an optimal rate. Where do you get the money to continue to subsidise?
“It is very clear that today; things are not as they were before. The earnings of the government have reduced by 60 per cent and what is happening in the oil sector reflect what is happening elsewhere.
“I believe that at this point, we are still trying to cross the first buck. We will get there; we will get used to it as Nigerians.”
