The Federal Government has increased the supply of Premium Motor Spirit, often known as petrol, to independent oil marketers through its Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited in an effort to prevent a further increase in the price of the product at the pump.
The Punch reported that oil marketers said on Friday that the national oil corporation complied with their requests to transfer more PMS to independent filling stations in order to reduce the increasing gap in the price of petrol.
They told our correspondent that the decision by NNPCL had now increased the availability of items in retail shops managed by independent marketers, adding that the national oil firm also committed to sustain this.
However, it was reported that oil marketers cautioned that an impending increase in fuel prices may be possible due to NNPCL’s inadequate supply of the product.
They issued a warning that the discrepancy in the fuel price at the pump will grow further as a result of the products’ incomplete deliveries to numerous filling stations.
Dealers operating under the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, according to the report, said that there had been a recent imbalance in the distribution of PMS, emphasizing that this would lead to scarcity and exacerbate the price disparity in retail outlets.
“Oando and NNPC Retail, for instance, have products at a few private depots here in Port Harcourt. There is no volume for independent marketers, despite the fact that Master Energy and Liquid Bulk also offer products,” according to IPMAN’s national public relations officer, Chief Ukadike Chinedu.
“Independent marketers have no volume in any of these depots, he continued, and we have more over 3,400 tickets sitting at the NNPC Retail account.
“This new method has forced independent traders to beg to NNPC Retail for petroleum products. Scarcity and price discrepancy at retail outlets will continue to be caused by the unbalanced distribution structure.”
Yet, when questioned on Friday if the NNPCL had paid attention to oil marketers’ pleas to prevent the impending price increase, Ukadike gave a positive response.
He said, “The NNPCL supplied 13 million litres and informed us about it. This is to cushion the effect of the poor supply in the affected areas. They also promised that they will ensure that marketers are given products back-to-back.”
The representative from IPMAN gave PMS customers the assurance that as long as NNPCL maintained an adequate supply, the price of petrol at filling stations run by independent marketers will always vary around the price set by the government.
PMS is only imported into Nigeria by NNPCL, and this has been the case for several years. Due to the difficulty in obtaining US dollars for PMS imports, several marketers stopped importing the product.
The marketers now purchase the product at a discounted price from NNPCL in order to distribute it to customers all throughout the nation.
“That is the current state of affairs. The current PMS supply has significantly contributed to the product’s availability in numerous retail locations around the nation. Consequently, with appropriate supply, the issue of unjustified pricing differences will be resolved,” Ukadike remarked.
Also, The Punch exclusively revealed on Thursday that Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption had increased to roughly 80 million liters, increasing the subsidy on the commodity toan estimated N484bn monthly.
According to the research, an examination of PMS weekly evacuation/dispatch statistics for the period of March 4–10, 2023, acquired from NNPCL, revealed that 558.83 million liters of petrol were evacuated overall, equating to an average daily use of 79.83 million liters.
Towards the middle of last month, the Group Chief Executive of NNPCL,Mele Kyari, stated that the oil company pushed roughly 66 million liters of petrol into the market on a daily basis, spending about N202 for each liter of PMS consumed throughout the nation.
