Rising Petrol Price Hits ₦‎300 Per Litre

The IPMAN official called on the Federal Government to do something about this, adding that it must be done fast.

When asked why were other depots in Apapa and in other locations not selling products, Shuaibu stated that pipeline vandalism, depot upgrade and other issues were the reasons.

He said, “Last time we complained that some depots were exploiting us, and the depots argued that the cost of moving products from one end of their facility to another had Increased, as well as other issues. So we can’t tell whether that is another reason why NNPC stopped supplying some of these depots.

Things were not worse like this before. As I’m talking to you now, some of our tickets have been there for close to a month. I did payment since but I can’t load. And the story is the same across their 21 depots. We can’t load.”

Meanwhile, Shuabu stated that unconfirmed information on the official pump price of PMS that filtered in on Thursday evening was that the government had quietly raised the cost of petrol.

“I cannot confirm it yet, but we are hearing that they have quietly increased the pump price of petrol, because major marketers in Lagos who used to sell at N179 – N180/litre, are now selling at N185 – N190/litre,” he stated.
Also speaking on the issue, the Public Relations Officer, IPMAN, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, said another reason for the scarcity was the changes being done by NNPC in terms of payment for products by marketers.

He said, “NNPC has moved independent marketers from PPMC Marketers Express to the NNPC Retail portal. That NNPC Retail portal is where marketers will be able to buy their products. However, they told us that the portal is in place now.

“Another concern is that they (NNPC) are also having an issue with the remittance, which, according to them, has been resolved. But the impact of these issues will definitely be felt and it will take some time to clear.

“Marketers are calling on NNPC to supply products to some of the depots where independent marketers can access them since most NNPC depots are not functional because of pipeline vandalism.”

He added, “If you make more products available in NNPC selected depots, (especially the ones in Warri, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Lagos), marketers can easily go there and pick up their volumes with this new redesigned NNPC marketers portal.

“Once this is done, the price of products will come down, because NNPC has not increased their price. So when marketers pick the products at the official price, they are bound to sell at the government approved price.”

Ukadike, however, noted that since marketers would not want to be idle and would not want their stations to remain dry, they usually purchased products from depot owners, as these set of dealers (depot owners) had their own challenges too.

He added, “So we are having price disparity at filling stations. If you go to the NNPC retail stations, you can buy petrol there at N179/litre, while some major marketers are selling at N200-N230/litre.

“It is therefore important for the NNPC to supply more products to independent marketers, who operate filling stations at the nook and crannies of Nigeria, so as to bring down the pressure of panic buying as well.”

NNPC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority have remained mute since the resurgence of fuel scarcity lately.

Source:- Supers