New lines for Premium Motor Spirit, often known as fuel, appeared on Friday in Abuja, as well as in other regions of Niger and Nasarawa State. These lines formed as a result of numerous filling stations run by independent merchants closing.
Due to their inability to obtain petrol when private depot owners raised the ex-depot price of the product to N710/litre, dealers had to close their retail locations.
The few petrol stations that were open on Friday saw a crush of drivers, especially those run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and a few significant oil marketers in Abuja and the surrounding states.
Over 70% of filling stations nationwide are owned by independent oil marketers, who place the responsibility on the increase in the ex-depot price of petrol delivered by private depot owners.
The ex-depot price of PMS was increased to N710/litre by private depot owners, according to Abubakar Maigandi, National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH. The pump price of the commodity at NNPC retail stations was N617/litre.
Maigandi said, “The current situation is a result of how the private depot owners have been selling their products. It has been very difficult for independent petroleum marketers to get the product and sell it in Abuja and neighbouring states, as well as in other states in the North.
“So, the queues you are seeing now are because of the cost of PMS by private depots. The private depots are selling at N710/litre, but if you check the price of the same product at NNPC retail outlets, it is N617/litre.
“Therefore, by the time the independent marketers buy from private depots and bring it to our filling stations, we will not be able to sell our product because our cost price is already so high, while the cost at NNPC retail outlets is far lower.
“And you know that when we buy it at the rate of N710/litre, we have to add transportation cost again because there is no equalisation. And when we add the cost of transportation, the pump price is going to be higher than the N710/litre ex-depot price, whereas NNPC stations sell at N617/litre.”
According to Maigandi, any distortion in the supply of goods to group members would result in fuel lines since large marketers and NNPC stations were scarcer due to IPMAN’s extensive network of stations.
On whether IPMAN members cannot get direct PMS supply from NNPC, instead of buying the product from private depots, he replied, “That is what we have been negotiating with them (NNPC), and they promised us that they will start giving us our allocation.
“They have started, but the quantity is small compared to the number of retail outlets operated by IPMAN nationwide. We are getting products from NNPC, but the volume is too small for our members.
“So, we are requesting additional volumes because, in Abuja alone, we have over 250 retail outlets belonging to IPMAN members. This is just for Abuja. We have not talked about Niger, Kaduna, and other states in the North, not to mention the number nationwide.”
Maigandi, however, stated that the queues for petrol were not pronounced in remote villages, adding that “when you go to the villages, you will see that there are no queues.”.
“But in the city centres, where you have NNPC stations selling very cheaper than the N710/litre price, you will see queues there, as well as in front of the few outlets that have products to dispense.”
The IPMAN president said petrol was not scarce, as there were enough volumes in-country concerning what was imported by NNPC – Nigeria’s sole importer of the commodity.
“There is no scarcity. There is the product. The queues are caused basically by the market challenge, as I have explained to you. But as soon as we get products from NNPC or at fairly good prices, we will dispense and the queues will vanish,” he stated.
Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources officials declared that the market had been deregulated and certified that there was sufficient product in the nation.
“It is a deregulated downstream oil sector, so dealers buy and sell based on demand and supply. There is enough product from NNPC. There is no scarcity,” an official at the ministry, who requested not to be named due to a lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.
Another NNPC representative reassured drivers that the firm has adequate product in the nation, so the lines would move quickly.
