- Petroleum marketers warn that the failure of the NNPC to dispense petroleum products might lead to scarcity nationwide
- IPMAN vice president, Abubakar Dankigari, says the foreign exchange rate is too high for his members to import petroleum products into the country
IPMAN vice president of, Abubakar Dankigari has said there might be scarcity of petroleum products in the next few days.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), has warned Nigerians that there might be scarcity of petrol and kerosene across the country in the next few days.
The vice president of IPMAN, Abubakar Dankigari, who gave the warning on Tuesday, December 10, told the Nation that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which sold the product for N133 per litre at the depots, was no longer loading petrol.
According to him, private depots around Calabar were already selling the product between N138 and N140 per litre and that this had forced marketers to keep their trucks since the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) was already owing them over N200 billion for bridging the product.
He said: “If care is not taken there will be fuel (petrol) scarcity because private depots have started increasing their rates; they are selling the product at a higher rate now in Calabar.
“Secondly, the cost of diesel is increasing. It is between N250 to N270 per litre. You can see that the cost of diesel is high but it is equally available because it has been deregulated. In addition, PEF that is supposed to be paying the transport fare is not paying.
“So, the marketers have decided to keep their trucks. The money PEF is owing marketers is now over N200billion. If this trend continues, there will be scarcity and the products will be very difficult to get. There is no kerosene at all.
“The major problem is that in Calabar, marketers are buying this product at N138 to N140 from the private depots. You know that what the NNPC said we should collect is N133 NNPC but they are not loading.”
In a related development, the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) into Nigeria is to gulp extra cost of over N2.369 billion per day from federal government and marketers.
According to New Telegraph, this is because the landing cost for fuel has soared to N212.7 per litre
This came as oil prices hit their highest levels since July 2015 with Brent reaching $58.37 and $55.24, before paring gains on the strong dollar.
Buoyed by this, the federal government is already mulling total deregulation of the downstream sector.
While the modulated bracket of N135-N145 is given as official price for fuel, the report states that extra N67.7 is incurred on over 35 million litres daily imports as the landing cost soared to N212.7 per litre.
