The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and oil marketing companies in the country have insisted that the price of petrol should be deregulated to ensure sustainable development in the downstream oil sector.

The corporation has also restated its commitment to the construction of a 1,350 megawatts (MW) capacity Abuja power plant and a 900MW capacity Kaduna power plant in partnership with reputable international power producers.

Speaking on Thursday in Lagos at the 2015 conference of the National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC), oil marketers and the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, said the speedy implementation of deregulation would encourage inflow of private sector and international investment into the country.

In his address titled, “Energy Crisis and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Way Forward”, Kachikwu noted that the subsidy regime creates distortions in government revenue distribution as a result of round tripping and unnecessary carryover of expenditures every year in a way that is difficult for government to control or sustain.

“Furthermore, the federal government is not in control of the factors that influence retail fuel price, particularly fluctuations of crude oil price at the international market. Deregulation policy is essential to the transformation and growth of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry,” he said.

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