NNPCL May Halt Petrol Import As Depots Price Nears N1,000/Litre
The pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, may rise above N1,000/litre in filling stations as the cost of the commodity in some private depots has been increased to between N920 and N950/litre.
This comes as protesters hit the streets of Abuja on Monday demanding the immediate dismissal of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, Mele Kyari, over the lingering fuel scarcity in the country.
It was gathered that the NNPC had informed oil marketers about the financial strain regarding the importation of petrol.
This raised concerns among dealers, who expressed worry over the possibility of a halt in the importation of petrol by NNPC.
NNPC’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, had earlier declared that the national oil company was facing financial strain. NNPC is the sole importer of PMS into Nigeria, shouldering subsidies on the commodity running into several trillions of naira.
“NNPC Ltd faces financial strain due to PMS supply costs, impacting supply sustainability. NNPC Ltd has acknowledged recent reports in national newspapers regarding the company’s significant debt to petrol suppliers. This financial strain has placed considerable pressure on the company and poses a threat to the sustainability of fuel supply.
“In line with the Petroleum Industry Act, NNPC Ltd remains dedicated to its role as the supplier of last resort, ensuring national energy security. We are actively collaborating with relevant government agencies and other stakeholders to maintain a consistent supply of petroleum products nationwide,” Soneye stated on Sunday.
Marketers said officials from the oil company had informed petrol dealers of the development, stressing that this may further lead to a hike in the pump prices of petrol in the coming weeks.
“Now, only NNPC Trading imports petrol, and they have come out frankly to inform marketers that they can no longer sustain it, which means they are subsidising the product all this while,” the National Publicity Secretary, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Ukadike Chinedu, stated.
“Of course, the cost of petrol at the pumps may rise further in the coming weeks because up till now we are not getting enough products. So, something urgent and drastic needs to be done to tackle this challenge now.”
This came as private depots sold a litre of petrol at prices ranging from N920 to N950/litre, contrary to the position of the Nigerian Upstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority that depots were meant to sell PMS at a stipulated price.
The spokesperson of the NMDPRA, George Ene-Ita, argued last week that the petrol price reports the regulator gets from its officials at the depots were different.
“Our depot people see a different price because we ask them to publish the prices at the depots every day and it is not N850/litre. Our field agents at the depots give us a different figure,” he said.
When told that some filling stations operated by independent marketers in Lagos and many other states dispensed their products for as high as N900 and N1,000/litre, the NMDPRA official said such outlets would be brought to book if apprehended.
“If we get these outlets, all we do is to try and shut them down, because NNPC is the company that brings in the product and they tell us how much they sell as their ex-depot prices to off-takers. And we sit down together and work out the margins and there is no way it should be that high,” Ene-Ita added.
The NMDPRA spokesman further noted that there was no way the agency could reconcile the high cost of petrol sold by independent marketers.
“Once we get these outlets, we are going to shut them down. NNPC tells us how much they sell and there is no way the pump prices should be that high. We don’t expect it to be higher than N650/litre,” he warned.
However, checks by our correspondents on Monday showed that many filling stations owned by independent marketers sold petrol close to N1,000/litre. In Kaduna, it sold for as much as N1,300/litre in some filling stations.
The National Vice Chairman of IPMAN, Hammed Fashola, disagreed with the NMDPRA, saying the regulator was not being sincere.
“I read in the news that the NMDPRA said no depot is selling at higher rates. I am not sure that should come from the NMDPRA. They are not being sincere. The NMDPRA knows what is happening because they have their officials in all the depots.
“The private depots sell to us at higher rates. If you add the cost of transportation and other expenses, the price will be higher. That’s what you see today in filling stations,” he stated.
Fashola said the cause of the price disparity between the major and independent marketers is the fact that IPMAN members do not get the product directly from NNPC, the sole importer of fuel.
According to him, the shortage in supply still lingers and the law of demand and supply has been taking place, saying higher demands have been forcing up the price of the product.
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He stated that many private depots now sold petrol at N920/litre, while others sold for N950/litre.
This, he said, explained why the independent marketers, who own about 80 per cent of the filling stations in Nigeria, sell at higher rates than the major marketers.
“As of today, some depots sell at N920 and some sell at N950/litre. That’s the situation we find ourselves and that is why the price is higher in filling stations,” Fashola stated.
Fashola had charged the government to either return the fuel subsidy or remove it instead of engaging in partial deregulation.
“The Federal Government and the NNPC should just do this thing once and for all. If they want to deregulate, let them deregulate fully, because we know where we are going; that’s why you’re seeing this disparity whereby the NNPC retail is selling at N580 in Lagos and independent marketers will be selling at N900 or N800.
“You can see the gap. It’s killing our business; we are not making progress; it’s killing us,” Fashola stated.
The IPMAN official added that some of the depot owners also faced lots of challenges to get fuel from NNPC.
“The problem is that it’s only NNPC that can bring this product because of forex. They are the only ones selling. Two or three independent marketers once tried to import, but they could not.
“The depot owners we are talking about, if you are close to some of them, they will tell you what they go through too, because when the NNPC brings this product, it will not drop it at their depots. They will pay hired daughter vessels and pay some charges in dollars. So, you cannot even blame them so much. That’s the reality. The depot owners also incur some expenses,” he noted.
Meanwhile, scores of demonstrators carried banners calling for NNPC boss Kyari’s immediate dismissal.
The protest comes after NNPC admitted that its substantial debt to suppliers was endangering the sustainable fuel supply.
Chanting solidarity songs and displaying several banners that read ‘We are tired of fuel scarcity and stories on why refineries are not working, ‘No direction under Kyari’ and ‘We want accountability in the affairs of NNPCL’, the demonstrators lamented that Kyari’s tenure was marked by a dismal scorecard that raised more questions than answers.
Addressing newsmen at Unity Fountain after the rally in Abuja, Convener of the Coalition of Concerned Civil Society Organisations, Aminu Abbas, wondered why a nation blessed with oil like Nigeria would continue to suffer acute petrol scarcity.
He said, “To President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and all those in positions of power, we say the time to act is now. Show us that you stand with the people, not those who profit from our misery. Mr Kyari must be shown the way out and the NNPCL must be reformed to serve the interests of all Nigerians. We will not be silenced.
“The fuel scarcity we endure today is not just a mere inconvenience; it is a calculated perpetuation of suffering. Under Mr Kyari’s leadership, the situation has gone from bad to worse, with no end in sight. What has he done to alleviate this crisis? It is clear he seems intent on maintaining a status quo that benefits only a select few while the masses suffer.
“Why do we, the people, have to endure endless queues, inflated prices, and the daily uncertainty of whether we can fuel our vehicles or power our homes? The answer lies in the gross incompetence and mismanagement that have become the hallmarks of Mr. Kyari’s leadership.”
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, also raised concerns over the rising cost of living, stating that arbitrary hike in the pump price of petrol and its attendant scarcity had contributed to the number of fewer vehicles plying Nigerian roads.
Falana, who disclosed this on Sunday’s Channels Television’s Politics Today, also charged that it is high time the ‘monumental fraud’ bedeviling fuel importation in Nigeria was exposed.
He said, “How many people have bought a car in the last one and a half years, even second-hand cars (in Nigeria)? The point I am making is that the number of vehicles on the road has been reduced. Yet, we were told that during the days of boom, the NNPCL was subsidising 68 million litres of fuel per day.
“Now that there are problems, scarcity and poverty everywhere, no new vehicles on the road, we are still paying for 68 million litres of fuel. Whereas before this regime came on board, the Comptroller General of Customs challenged the NNPCL during a Senate public hearing to pay for the amount of fuel that is said to be smuggled out of the country.”
Falana said emerging reports suggested that NNPC was not telling Nigerians everything it claimed to know about the smuggling of crude from the country.
According to him, smugglers need 2,000 petrol tankers to scoop the volume of fuel the corporation claimed was being stolen frequently.
“This is because we man the borders and you will need about 2,000 tankers to take out the amount of fuel the NNPCL claimed was being smuggled out. So, what has changed? This is the time to expose the monumental fraud that has characterised the importation of fuel,” he stated.
