Egbogha gave the assurance while fielding questions from State House Correspondents in Abuja.

He said that deregulation would work in spite of the fear being expressed in some quarters.

``The problem is that most people don't understand the meaning of deregulation; they take it that deregulation is to increase prices, whereas it is the opposite.

``It is deregulation that will bring down prices because when we have full deregulation, marketers will be under cutting themselves and everyday prices will be going down and eventually it will reach the bottom.

``Of course at the beginning, may be the price will be high but this competition is what is going to drive prices down; this is what happens everywhere in the world.

``Many don't understand; they think that deregulation is only in the oil and gas industry; meanwhile, the food you buy day to day is being regulated and the prices move according to demand and supply.''

Egbogha stressed that deregulation must be carried out for the survival of the sector.

He said the exercise, when properly carried out, would bring down prices and everyone would enjoy its benefits.

``The refineries will work and they are being fixed; it is a part of the deregulation programme because the refineries must be able to work to provide ample supply of products.

``A lot of these measures that the government is taking are to ensure that this deregulation itself will work, so a lot of these programmes will be brought to play to be able to stabilise the environment.''