Diesel price in Nigeria at $0.54 per litre below $0.96 global average – data

The average price of diesel at $0.54 (about N200) per litre in Nigeria remains relatively cheap compared to $0.96 average price of diesel in the world, according to GlobalPetrolPrices.com data seen by businessalive Wednesday.

Data compiled by GlobalPetrolPrices.com, an online data company tracking energy prices in over 150 countries on a weekly basis, indicate that Nigeria’s diesel prices are still cheap despite foreign exchange challenges vis-à-vis the value of the naira.

The weekly price chart specifically had Nigeria, Burma and Bolivia having the same price per litre ($0.54) of the product with Iran having the lowest price at $0.09 per litre of all the 163 countries surveyed.

Norway, however, had the highest price of the product at $1.84.

Price of the product in Saudi Arabia, a major oil-producing country, is $0.12 just as Nigerian prices are better than her peers in Africa except for Algeria at $0.18 and Egypt at $0.21.

In other African oil-producing countries of Angola, Mozambique, Gabon and Ghana diesel prices, according to the data, stood at $0.81, $0.87, $0.93, and $0.93 respectively.

Africa’s third-largest economy, South Africa, has an average diesel price of $1.0 just as Zimbabwe the country with the highest inflation rate has the product selling for $1.20.

The price of diesel in Nigeria has been a source of concern for manufacturers who relied on generators due to poor power supply. The price rose to an all time high N300 or $0.83 at an exchange of N360/$.

However, in June the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was able to bring down the price to between N175 to N200 per litre across the country.

Ndu Ughamadu, group general manager, public affairs, said the crash in price was due to strategic intervention efforts by the NNPC towards sustained improvement in the supply of the product.