The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has revealed that the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), diesel, and petrol will continue to fall across Nigeria due to rising supply, increased competition, and continued private sector investments.

The comments were made by the NMDPRA’s chief executive, Saidu Mohammed, during an inspection of facilities owned by Aradel Holdings Plc on January 24.

Mohammed continued to note that “The more supply we have, the lower the price, and this is already evident as petrol has dropped from about N1,000 to N800 per litre due to competition,” and added that sustained competition in place of subsidies would allow for the adequate supply of petrol and gas at affordable prices.

The official continued to note that Nigeria needed more refineries with advanced conversion capacity to produce fuel oil, LPG, diesel, and petrol to adequately meet domestic demand. Indeed, he added that a larger number of refineries would also help provide Nigeria with enough product to start large-scale exports in the future.

He continued to underscore that President Bola Tinubu’s policy of subsidy removal had unlocked “private sector participation and stimulated investments across the oil and gas value chain,” and that although production at state-owned refineries was the responsibility of the Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd., (NNPCL), the NMDPRA was engaging with the company to ensure the delivery of crude and petroleum products to the reserves of Port Harcourt and Warri as this would “restore loading activities at the refineries will boost local economies and revive product distribution within host communities.”

Moreover, according to Mohammed, once loadings could commence, Nigerians would begin to feel the full economic impact.

He concluded that “Nigeria’s economic growth depends heavily on the rapid expansion of locally owned midstream assets, [and] Nigerians have the capacity to design, finance, build, and sustainably operate world-class energy infrastructure.”