Marketers blame depots as petrol nears N1,000/litre

Amid worsening supply challenges and rising pump prices, petroleum marketers have begun moves to import petrol independently as the commodity moved close to the N1,000 per litre mark across major cities in the country.

Marketers said supply constraints and production glitches at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery sparked fresh pressure in the downstream oil market.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, confirmed the development in a telephone interview with The societywatch on Tuesday.

According to him, members of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria are concluding arrangements to begin petrol importation as part of efforts to stabilise retail prices.

He stated that petrol prices would soon drop as competition returns to the market, if additional competition is brought into the sector.

“Yes, petrol price is still going to come down because I also know that some marketers, especially DAPPMAN members, have applied and they are going to import petrol products.

“Peradventure, their prices are cheaper than Dangote’s, we would have no choice but to patronise them. The essence of this market is that where it is cheaper, we will buy. But prices will come down once there is a struggle for the market,” Ukadike said.

The societywatch reports that petrol prices rose from about N865 to around N950 per litre on Monday.

Checks by The societywatch on Tuesday showed that the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, now sells between N920 and N955 per litre in many retail outlets, while some stations in Abuja, Sokoto and Lagos charge as high as N1,000 per litre, depending on location and brand.

This comes at a time when Nigerians were expecting petrol prices to drop to N841/litre as recommended by the Dangote refinery.

Our correspondent recalls that when the Dangote refinery launched its logistics-free fuel distribution scheme on September 15, it stated that its partners and filling stations benefitting from the scheme would drop petrol prices to N841 in the South West and N851 in Abuja, Edo, Kwara, Rivers and Delta.

But when this had yet to take effect in filling stations, prices surged above N900 in Lagos, Ogun Abuja and others.

In the Federal Capital Territory, a market survey by one of our correspondents revealed that petrol sold for N955 per litre at NNPC outlets in Gwarinpa and Lugbe, while prices climbed to N928 per litre at NNPC stations in Lagos.