The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has identified with the suffering of its customers as the country continues to grapple with recurrent scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) commonly known as petrol in various parts of the Country.
The association has however identifies two main reasons for the current scarcity a:
- Supply inadequacy in the last few weeks
- Distribution challenges created by the unavailability and continuous surge in international prices of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel)
MOMAN members are working with The Authority, NNPC/PPMC, NARTO and other industry stakeholders to make the product (petrol) available at the pumps and eliminate the queues as quickly as possible.
It stated further that as an Association, fears that the current supply framework cannot guarantee steady and consistent supplies to the country given the current state of Government finances and unpredictable international supply shortages. “We, therefore, recommend a gradual price deregulation with targeted palliatives (eg. transport and agricultural subsidies) to the public to ease implementation.”
However, in the interim, MOMAN recommends:
- The current single supplier strategy be reviewed.
- The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other relevant MDAs, should set up a taskforce to immediately focus on increasing diesel supply through accelerated initiatives to increase local modular refining capacity. This move will tackle the supply and distribution challenges.
- Phased rehabilitation of existing NNPC refineries to hasten supply of middle distillates (AGO & ATK).
MOMAN recognizes and closely associates with the need to ease challenges with respect to high energy and transportation costs occasioned by extraneous circumstances.
MOMAN shall continually do its best to distribute petrol to its customers across the country and keep exploring opportunities to partner with industry stakeholders, the Authority, and the Government to ensure the sustainability and institutionalization of a viable petroleum downstream sector in Nigeria.
The full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector and full implementation of the
Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 clearly remains the most viable long-term solution to the country’s supply and distribution challenges.
Meanwhile, the Association of Petroleum Marketers in Badagry, Lagos State, on Wednesday urged the federal government to declare its stand on pump price of petrol in the country.
Abdul-Ganiyu Adelani, Chairman of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Badagry that disparity in the price of loading at tank farms led to increase in the pump price of the product.
According to the chairman, while the filing stations of few major marketers are selling at N165, the independent marketers are selling between N190 and N200.
“Most of the major marketers are not having the products, making the motorists to queue up at filling stations of few independent marketers that are selling.
“If the government wants to increase the pump price of petroleum, they should announce it and make the product available so that marketers can get it.
“At the same time, if government is not increasing petrol price, they should make the product available so that filing stations will get it to sell.
“Throughout Badagry none of the filing stations of major marketers are selling petrol; it is only independent marketers’ filing stations that residents are buying from.
“The price is between N180 and N200 per litre,” he said.
NAN correspondant who went round filing stations in Badagry observed that queues had reduced as most of the filing stations were selling the product.
NAN also reports that petol is sold at N180 per litre at NNPC Mega Station in Itoga, Forte Oil and AP filing stations along Disu Joseph way, Badagry.
At Obinja filing station, God Decision and Ayomide filing stations, pump price is N190, while Royal Sunad and Jacos filing stations are selling at N200 per litre.
NAN reports that on Tuesday, the Federal Government said the fixed pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) remained N165 per litre as stipulated in the petroleum product pricing template.
This was made known by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd., and the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) after visiting jetties in Apapa, Lagos.
Ugbugo Ukoha, Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retail Infrastructure, NMDPRA, maintained that petrol was a regulated product and urged marketers to comply with the pricing template.
The depots visited by the top officials of the agencies were NIPCO Depot and TotalEnergies Depot.
NAN had reported on Monday that the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) had advised its members to adjust the pump price of PMS to a minimum of N180 per litre.
The marketers had said the move was necessitated by the increment in the ex-depot price of PMS by some private depots where they were buying the product from.
Olusola Bello