FG Urges Marketers to Cut Fuel Costs as Oil Falls

FG Urges Marketers to Cut Fuel Costs as Oil Falls

The Federal Government has ordered petroleum marketers to reduce pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and other products to reflect the recent fall in global oil prices.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, issued the directive in Abuja during the 2026 NMDPRA General Counsel and Legal Advisers Forum, themed “Beyond Compliance: Certainty and Investment Confidence in Nigeria’s Petroleum Sector.”

Lokpobiri said tensions between Iran and the United States had eased, leading to lower global oil prices, but lamented that this reduction had not yet been passed on to Nigerian consumers.

He cautioned that while market forces under deregulation would eventually restore equilibrium, marketers must not exploit the situation to make excessive profits.

“When someone pays for 10 litres of PMS, they should receive exactly 10 litres, not less,” he warned.

The minister stressed that regulators have a duty under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 to prevent profiteering and ensure transparency.

“Compliance is the foundation. Regulatory certainty is the ceiling we must now be building toward,” he said.

Lokpobiri credited full deregulation, implemented under President Bola Tinubu, with ending artificial scarcity and enabling projects like the Dangote Refinery.

He said investors are drawn to jurisdictions with clear and predictable regulatory frameworks.

He urged legal advisers to provide feedback whenever regulations create uncertainty that could discourage investment, noting that attracting capital requires policy consistency, transparent regulation, efficient dispute resolution, and collaboration among stakeholders.

The directive comes after the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) raised concerns that recent price cuts by refiners, depot operators, and retailers have not matched the scale of the drop in international crude oil prices.