There is reprieve for petrol users who have been reeling under scarcity of product and payment of higher cost.
Wednesday’s decision of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to revert its position on the sale of petrol from N180 per litre to the recommended N165 per litre has raised the hope of an end to product shortage.
IPMAN National President, Chinedu Okoronkwo, at a briefing in Abuja ON Wednesday, said the association had resolved to maintain the status quo ante.
He said the NNPC and the Pipeline and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) responded positively to the association’s request by releasing products from their tank farms that can last 32 days.
Okoronkwo urged Nigerians to stop panic buying petrol.
On the directive from the Lagos branch, he said: “The cost of doing business has changed.
“My members in Lagos, before they did what they did, called and told me that they are getting the product at N162 to N165 per litre with transportation aggregating to about N170 to N173.
“Even the N10 which is supposed to be ours has been eroded. What do we do?
“It is only NNPC that imports this product. Don’t blame some of these tank farm owners because the cost of doing business has changed.
“It became so difficult for them to sell at N148.17 but the NNPC and PPMC went to their tank farms and released products. We can now access the product at N148.17.
“Status quo ante must be maintained moving forward. They have told us they have products that can last us up to 32 days.
“We must be happy with that, knowing full well the challenges we have globally on energy. That is why we are thanking them.”
According to him, the loading of the product is ongoing in Lagos. He is hopeful that in a matter of days the queues will disappear.
He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for making available a N4trillion budgetary provision for subsidy, especially with the current global energy problems caused by the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
He said the association has engaged a consultant to determine how much bridging claims are owed the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP).
Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Olumide Adeosun, said the scarcity was the culmination of a declining supply by the NNPC.
He said at a virtual briefing that supply has been on the decline since May.
He said fuel supply was 438,800MT in April; 213,000MT in May and 140,000MT in June, with 64,000MT being loaded as of Tuesday.
This supply inadequacy, Adeosun noted, combined with the distribution challenges created by the unavailability and continuous surge in international prices of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) compounded the situation.
The association fears that the current supply framework cannot guarantee steady supplies given the current state of government finances and unpredictable international supply shortages.
MOMAN said the full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector and full implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 remains the most viable long-term solution to the country’s fuel supply and distribution challenges.
It recommended gradual price deregulation with targeted palliatives like transport and agricultural subsidies.
Executive Secretary of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), Mr Femi Adewole, said the ongoing Russia/Ukraine war impacted negatively on global and local fuel and food supply, with international prices rising.
According to him, the local running costs of operating various fuel depots have gone up astronomically as a result.
Depot operators, he said, purchase the products with funds sourced with high bank interest charges, alongside increased costs of hiring vessels with which fuel cargoes are brought to the depots.
“These costs have doubled within the period of this Russian/Ukraine war. Added to this is the scarcity of bunkers (ship’s fuel).
“We also experienced astronomical increases in the cost of diesel used to power equipment and machinery in our various depots and our retail outlets,” Adewole said.
He added that depot owners and the government had continued to struggle over time to supply at N165 per litre despite subsidy.
The Lagos chapter of IPMAN, through its secretary Akeem Balogun, on Monday announced it would no longer be able to sell petrol below N180.
The marketers claimed the current pump price was unsustainable due to high operational costs.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) on Wednesday maintained that the pump price remained unchanged.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it had over two billion litres of PMS that would last for at least a month – enough stock to meet demand.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
