Petrol Ex-depot Price Rises by 7.6% to N608/Litre

The Ex-depot price of petrol, yesterday, rose by 7.6 per cent to N608 per litre from N565 per litre in Lagos and environs.

A visit to private depots in Lagos showed that independent marketers, who lift at N608 per litre, ended up selling it at between N630 and N640 per litre at their stations, depending on the location.

Checks indicated that while the NNPC Limited stations continue to sell at N568 per litre in Lagos and environs, the major marketers fixed their prices at between N580 and N590 per litre, depending on the location.

A marketer, who pleaded anonymity, said: “A truck of 33 million litres that cost N7.5 million before deregulation now costs around N25 million. Some of us now share a truck of 33 million litres in order to continue running our business”.

Similarly, the President of Independent Petroleum Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, said in a telephone interview that, “There is no more pricing mechanism, the market is what determines the price and that is what deregulation is all about.

Also reacting, the Managing Director of Rainoil Logistics, Jude Nwaulune, said that the independent marketers still encounter challenges while striving to break even in their operations since the removal of fuel subsidies.

He listed the problems to include foreign exchange crisis and high cost of transportation, due mainly to the high cost of diesel, currently hovering at about N1,000 per litre.