The Federal Government has said the breakthrough announced recently on COVID-19 vaccine by drug manufacturing giant, Pfizer, accounted for the increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, in Nigeria.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said this on Monday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sylva, who spoke with State House Correspondents after the meeting, said: “What happened recently was because of the announcement of a vaccine for COVID-19 by Pfizer.
“With that, crude oil prices went up a little bit.
“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 announcement.
“So, when crude oil prices go up a little bit, then you will see that instantly reflect on the price of petrol, which is a derivative of crude oil.”
Sylva said the pump price of petrol is directly determined by the price of crude oil in the global market.
He added: “When the price of crude oil goes up, then it means that the price of the fixed stock 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.
“That is why we say deregulate so that as the price goes up or down, you begin to go up and down as well at the pump.
“Before now, we fixed it, which was not optimal for us as a country.”