The Nigerian Government has said that the recent increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol is as a result of the announcement by an American pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, on its recent breakthrough in the fight against Coronavirus.
Recall that the Petroleum Products Marketing Company had announced a new ex-depot price of N155.17 for petrol.
Ex-depot price is the price marketers buy products from depot owners.
An increase or decrease in ex-depot price has effect on the pump price of petrol.
Speaking with State House correspondents on Monday, Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said the announcement of a COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer triggered a slight increase in the price of crude oil in the global market.
Sylva 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 (it will) instantly reflect on the price of petrol, which is a derivative of crude oil.”
Pfizer and BioNTech had on November 10 announced that a vaccine they jointly developed was 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19 infections in ongoing phase three trials.
The message of hope instantly drew applause from the world audience, bringing the United States President, Donald Trump, and the President-elect, Joe Biden, to their first convergence in recent months, as both congratulated Pfizer on its scientific trial.
President Muhammadu Buhari also waded in, welcoming the development and expressing hope that the vaccine would be available for all when it finally hits the market.
America’s Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, will produce 1.3 billion doses of the vaccines for 650 million people by the end of 2021.
