Fuel Queues Grow As Ex-depot Price Hits N235/Litre
Private depots in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar, among other cities, have raised the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, from the N220/litre, which it sold last week, to N235/litre.
Officially, the approved subsidised ex-depot price of petrol is N148.17/litre, while marketers are allowed to sell between N179 to N180/litre at filling stations. But since the scarcity became severe weeks ago, the cost of the commodity has continued to jump.
It was also gathered that despite the hike in the cost of the commodity, tankers moving PMS across the country now spend over two weeks on queues at depots, waiting to be served products for distribution.
Oil marketers told our correspondent that just as many filling stations were shut due to lack of products, a lot of depots were also out of stock.
They called on the Nigerian Petroleum Company Limited to provide an explanation for the prolonged scarcity of fuel nationwide.
“Many of the depots where we buy PMS are not loading products. Secondly, the ones that load products sell at higher rates, N235/litre currently,” the National Vice President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, stated.
He added, “Some sell for N230/litre at their depots. So, by the time you load this product at N235/litre, there is no way that you can sell it at N175/litre as allowed by the government.”
He said this was why many filling stations, particularly those outside city centres now dispensed the commodity at N250/litre.
When asked if the current fuel scarcity was a ploy by the government to increase the price of the commodity, Maigandi replied, “The NNPC is best placed to answer that question because they are the sole importer of PMS.
“We cannot tell what their plan is, but all we know is that some of our marketers buy the product at N230 to N235/litre from depots in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar. They buy at this high rate and move it down to the Northern part of the country.”
On whether marketers would start importing PMS considering the current supply challenges facing the NNPC, he said, “The advice we’ve always given to NNPC is that instead of allowing the products to be sold through third parties, they should give marketers the products directly.
“This will help the situation. So, instead of buying from depot owners, they should sell the marketers directly. This is because most depot owners do not have filling stations, and once they get allocations, they may decide to leave their tanks underground and allow filling station owners to suffer.”
Maigandi continued, “The way you see queues at filling stations, that is how our trucks are queuing up in the various depots waiting for the product to load. Most of our trucks spend more than two weeks in the queue before they load products.”
Also speaking on the issues, the Secretary, IPMAN, Abuja-Suleja, Mohammed Shuaibu, said the silence by NNPC over the lingering fuel challenges was becoming worrisome.
“NNPC should explain, not just to marketers, but to Nigerians. If NNPC has been telling Nigerians that it has products that will last more than 30 days, and people have continued to suffer due to lack of these products, it calls for concern and they should explain,” he stated.
He added, “All filling stations want to sell. But if they don’t have the product, how will they sell? They can’t sell. What we sell here in the North are products we bring from down South. Even the South itself, Lagos for instance, doesn’t have this product in the city.”
Shuaibu said the sole importer of this product today was NNPC, adding that “the officially subsidised rate for marketers to get the product and bring it to their stations was N148.17/litre.”
He added, “The marketers are to sell between N175, but now I think it is N179-N180/litre at filling stations, as approved by the government. But outside the city centres, you see the product selling above N250/litre.
“This is because the demand is far higher than supply. So, the private depots where NNPC store these products are now assuming ownership of the commodity and it is now as if marketers buy from third parties.”
NNPC has kept mute on this matter, despite the prolonged period and the massive queues for petrol at filling stations. It maintained its silence on Tuesday, ignoring repeated calls to get the company’s reaction.
Also, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the industry regulator, stayed mute on Tuesday when efforts were made to get its position on the issue.
