Residents and motorists in Port Harcourt and other parts of Rivers State are still grappling with high petrol prices as the product sells for about ₦1,400 per liter at some filling stations in the state.
Checks conducted recently in Port Harcourt showed that petrol was sold at ₦1,400 per liter at Eternal and Whiz filling stations while a NNPC outlet at Rumuodomaya sold the product at ₦1,385 per liter.
The prices come amid a general rise in the cost of petroleum products in Nigeria, with petrol hitting ₦1,500 per liter in some places.The increase in pump prices is more money spent in daily movement for motorists in Rivers across Port Harcourt and communities around.
Commercial transport operators are also hit by higher operating costs because of the amount they pay for petrol.
At the same time, businesses that rely on road transportation to ferry workers, products and supplies are feeling the pressure. Higher crude oil prices and costs throughout the petroleum supply chain have been blamed for the latest hike.
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has urged a faster revival of government-owned refineries, including the Port Harcourt Refinery, saying more local refining could reduce exposure to international oil-price movements.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited says it is considering technical and financial partnership options for the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
Preliminary technical studies of the two facilities have been completed, but no final commercial agreement has been reached. For Rivers, the situation remains serious because Port Harcourt is home to one of Nigeria’s major petroleum-industry hubs and the Port Harcourt Refinery.
But, for the moment, petrol prices differ from filling station to filling station, depending on supply costs, location and the pricing of individual marketers.
As of Sunday, September 27, there was no independently-confirmed statewide pump-price survey documenting a new Rivers-wide price change in the last 12 hours.
Thus, the latest verified reports point to petrol prices of about ₦1,385-₦1,400 per liter at the Port Harcourt outlets cited, as against a uniform price across Rivers State.
