…FG denies rumours of fuel price hike
Oil prices climbed for the first time in three days on Wednesday, but rising supply and fears over the outlook for demand amid the U.S.-China trade war kept pressure on the market.
This is the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has brushed aside, rumours making the rounds that an impending review of pump prices of petroleum products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol are unfounded.
NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, confirmed that contrary to the misinformation trending in the social media, the Federal Government has no plan to review prices of white products either downwards or upwards. Ughamadu stated this in a statement made available to Business Hilights.
Details from trading on Wednesday showed that Brent crude futures had gained 47 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $76.38 a barrel by 0441 GMT. They fell 1.8 percent on Tuesday, at one point touching their lowest since Aug. 24 at$75.09 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures advanced 16 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $66.34 a barrel on Wednesday.
They dropped 1.3 percent the day before, after hitting their weakest since Aug. 17 at $65.33 a barrel. Both crude benchmarks have fallen about $10 a barrel from four-year highs reached in the first week of October, and are on track to post their worst monthly performance since July 2016. “Everyone thought we were going to go into the $90s, but now we are heading for the $60s,” said Tony Nunan, oil risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo, referring to Brent prices.
Oil has been caught in the global financial market slump this month, with equities under pressure from the trade scrap between the world’s two largest economies.
