At the beginning of 2023, Brent crude traded around $78 per
barrel. However, last week, the international benchmark hit $83 per barrel.
On the other hand, petrol prices started the year at less
than $2.50 per gallon. Last week, it hit $2.90 per gallon, and analysts said it
could reach $3 in the new week.
A weak currency and inflation had caused a rise in the
dollar against the naira to as much as N820/$1 recently, before dropping to
N776/$1 as of Saturday.
In Nigeria, petrol price had risen from between N198/N200
per litre, to around N617 per litre since deregulation of the downstream sector
by President Bola Tinubu on May 29.
Due to lack of functional refineries, Nigeria still imports
its petrol despite being an oil producing country.