• Super Admin
• 08 Mar, 2026

Petrol prices at filling stations across Lagos have surged past N1,200 per litre at select outlets, a threshold that marks one of the sharpest short-term escalations since Nigeria dismantled its decades-old fuel subsidy regime in 2023, as a deepening Middle East conflict sends global crude prices to multi-year highs. A BusinessDay market survey across various filling stations in Lagos on Sunday Evening revealed pump prices ranging from N1,020 to N1,080 per litre at mainstream outlets, with some independent stations breaching the N1,200 mark depending on location and operator. The trigger is unmistakably global. Brent crude climbed to around $91 per barrel on Sunday amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, including the Israel-Iran conflict and disruptions in key shipping lanes like the Strait of Hormuz. Qatar's energy minister has warned the market could absorb further shocks if tanker traffic through the strait is curtailed, with some forecasts pointing to $150 per barrel in a worst-case scenario. That external pressure has fed directly into Nigeria's domestic supply chain. The Dangote Refinery, Nigeria's largest and most strategically significant domestic fuel source, raised its ex-gantry price from N774 to N874 per litre and then again to N995 within days, a cumulative jump of roughly 29 percent in under a week. Retail operators, bound by their own margin requirements, have passed on the full increase -- and then some. At NNPC retail outlets in Ilasa, Apple Junction, and Ago Palace Way, petrol was dispensed at N1,040 per litre, up N47 from the prior price of N993. MRS Oil Nigeria stations were selling at N1,057 per litre, while a Techno Oil outlet in Festac Town priced the product at N1,050. The N1,200 figure, currently confined to independent and roadside operators in high-demand corridors, is seen by analysts as a bellwether for where mainstream prices are heading if crude holds above $90. For small businesses, logistics operators and the millions of daily commuters who rely on danfo minibuses and okada motorcycles, every naira increase compounds an already precarious cost-of-living crisis. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has sought to reassure the public that fuel supplies remain adequate, and there are no signs of the queues that paralysed Lagos during previous price crises. But the adequacy of supply offers cold comfort when the product is increasingly unaffordable. Compressed natural gas is emerging as a partial alternative, with NIPCO Gas announcing 20 new CNG stations nationwide at N380 per standard cubic metre, a fraction of petrol's cost. Yet the infrastructure to run CNG vehicles remains embryonic for the vast majority of Nigerian motorists. Source: https://businessday.ng/energy/article/petrol-prices-hit-n1200-litre-as-middle-east-crises-rattle-crude-market/