Posted by On Monday, motorists and residents of the Nigerian capital of Abuja panicked when they discovered that some gas stations in the city were out of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as gasoline.
some gas stations in the Kubwa and Bwari neighborhoods of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were dry, with no fuel available to sell to passing motorists.
Lines formed at certain gas stations along the Kubwa expressway that sold the item when the news broke.
Some drivers stated there were signs of an impending increase in the price of gasoline at the pump because they stocked up in a hurry after learning that some gas stations were not distributing fuel.
Two days ago, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, refuted claims that it was intending to once again increase the price of the product, leading to the current round of speculation about a likely hike in the fuel pump price.
“Dear esteemed customers, we at NNPC Retail value your patronage, and we do not have the intention to increase our PMS pump prices as widely speculated,” the NNPCL said in a message released to its official X handle on Friday, October 6.
Concerns about the ongoing military confrontation in Gaza between Israel and Palestine have fueled most of the speculating.
Concerns that the situation in Israel and Gaza could impede output from the Middle East reportedly led to a spike in oil prices on the international market on Monday, October 9.
The price of a barrel of Brent Crude, used as a global benchmark, increased by $2.25, to $86.83, as reported by the BBC. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, used as a proxy for the cost of production in the United States, increased by $2.50 on Monday morning, reaching $85.30.
Oil prices increased by more than 3% on Monday, according to Reuters, as worries of a wider confrontation in the Middle East were stoked by reports of military battles between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
By 11:43 GMT, Reuters reported that the price of a barrel of Brent crude had increased by $2.70, or 3.2%, to $87.28 and that the price of a barrel of US West Texas Intermediate crude had increased by $2.78, or 3.4%, to $85.57.
Reuters reports that both benchmarks have increased by almost $4 per barrel so far today.
Like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Isreali-Palestinian conflict in Gaza threatens to destabilize the global economy.
Oil prices increased dramatically after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, reaching over $120 per barrel by June 2023.
Nigeria is one of the world’s top oil producers, but the country must rely on imports of refined petroleum products, making it vulnerable to market swings in oil prices.
Katch Ononuju, an analyst in international affairs, told DAILY POST on Monday that the Israeli-Palestinian situation would inevitably lead to a rise in oil prices on the world market.
The surge already occurred the day before. Oil prices will rise anyway, but the real goal of the strike is to get the United States into the ongoing negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
I think Hamas is trying to bring up the Palestinian issue in talks between Saudi Arabia and the United States in an effort to pressure Saudi Arabia into making peace with Israel. That’s what’s happening, according to Ononuju, the Director General of Abuja’s Heritage Centre. “I think Hamas has been very very strategically successful,” he added.
Saturday saw the beginning of a full-scale military assault by Hamas against Israel.
Israeli air raids on the Palestinian territory of Gaza have increased in response to the attack, which has been called the largest in decades.
CBS NEWS reported on Monday that over 1,200 people have been killed, between the two sides. There are reportedly nine American casualties.
Israel has called out 100,000 reservists to join the military effort, so the conflict is likely to get worse.