Abuja, June 30, 2026 – Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), has directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to stop excessive pricing of petroleum products.
The minister gave the directive while speaking at the 2026 NMDPRA General Counsel and Legal Advisers Forum in Abuja on Monday.
He said that the directive was necessary to check the current high pr ices of petroleum products in Nigeria after the Middle East crisis had been resolved and crude oil prices were returning to their old prices at the international market.
“Following the de-escalation of tensions between Iran and the United States, we expected to see commensurate downward adjustment in the prices of PMS and other petroleum products. However, that has not yet happened,” he said.
The minister said the fact that the market had been deregulated should not give operators the latitude to exploit consumers.
“While we believe that market forces will eventually restore equilibrium, the regulator also has a statutory responsibility to ensure that deregulation does not become an avenue for profiteering. This must be done in line with the extant provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act,” he said.
Lokpobiri urged the NMDPRA to monitor the prices and ensure full compliance with the extant laws in the industry.
“Beyond allowing prices to be determined by market forces, the question is: what is the regulator doing to ensure that consumers receive the correct quantity of product? When someone pays for 10 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, they should receive exactly 10 litres, not less,” he said.
