REASONS BEHIND THE FUEL PRICE INCREASE:Petrol sells for 87 to N110 at depots

Firstclass newsline gathered that the tankers loading petrol from
depots in Apapa, Lagos are currently paying between N90 and N110 per
litre instead of the N82 before the advent of the current scarcity of
the product in the market.
This, according to market sources, is the reason behind the high
prices for which the product is selling at filling stations across the
country.
Since the National Association of Road Transport Owners and the
Petroleum Tanker Drivers' arm of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and
Natural Gas Workers called off their strike, which was called to
protest the debts owed their members by the petroleum product
marketers, nearly all the filling stations have refused to sell petrol
at the official pump price of N87 per litre.
The product is currently being sold for between N150 and N200 per litre.
The Chairman, NUPENG, Lagos Zone, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, confirmed to
firstclass newsline in a telephone interview that loading of products
from the depots had been intensive since the strike was called off.
This, however, has not led to the normalisation of the price at the depots.
Korodo described the flow of product at the depots as seamless,
saying, "For us now, loading is done 24 hours of the day. We are also
doing overnight loading to ensure more products get to Nigerians."
A marketer, who belongs to the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers
Association, who spoke to firstclass newsline on condition of
anonymity, however, said the supply of petrol "is not much currently."
According to him, tankers are being attended to on a
first-come-first-serve basis owing to the excess demand situation,
which currently characterises downstream operations.
Commenting on the high prices for which the product is being sold at
the depots, the source said, "It will be difficult to regulate the
market now because we have an abnormal situation. Fixing the N82 per
litre price for petrol at the depots is not feasible now. It will take
some time before it will be business as usual."
Marketers of petroleum products said on Tuesday that the current
petrol supply challenge would continue throughout the week.
They also confirmed that loading of petrol had resumed across board
with members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria and
DAPPMA driving the exercise.
But they told firstclass newsline that because of the May 29 public
holiday, the supply hitch was likely to prevail till next week because
there would not be product loading on Friday and Saturday.
It was also learnt that Folawiyo, Capital Oil and Nipco were
championing overnight loading of petrol at the Apapa depots.
Meanwhile, the leadership tussle rocking the Independent Petroleum
Marketers Association of Nigeria has aggravated the scarcity of
refined petroleum products across the country, the National President
of the body, Mr. Obasi Lawson, has said.
According to him, the association controls over 60 per cent of the
retail outlets for refined petroleum products in the country, adding
that the crisis had prevented most members of the group from having
access to the products.
For about two weeks now, the country has witnessed severe scarcity of
petroleum products, a development that has paralysed economic
activities across the nation.
Lawson said during a meeting of stakeholders in Abuja on Wednesday
that products meant for IPMAN members' filling stations were diverted
to the outlets of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria and
the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria as a result
of the lingering leadership crisis.
He said, "IPMAN is a major player in the downstream subsector of the
oil and gas industry. We control over 60 per cent of the retail
outlets across the country and we have over 10,000 members with over
30,000 petrol stations. What the masses suffered because of fuel
scarcity was largely caused by the crisis in IPMAN.
"Before the crisis started in IPMAN, you will agree that there was no
problem of fuel scarcity for about three years into the administration
of President Goodluck Jonathan.
"But the suffering started as a result of this crisis and this is
because we control 60 per cent of the retail outlets. As a result of
the crisis, we are not getting products as and when due; the products
that were supposed to come to us were diverted to MOMAN and DAPMAN.
And as of that time, most of our petrol stations were not selling.
"It is not that we are not getting the products, but we get them at
exorbitant prices and we have to transport them ourselves. It wasn't
the fault of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, but it was
because we were not united. They prefer giving products to MOMAN and
DAPMAN that are united."
Lawson, however, stated that the crisis had been resolved as a result
due to the intervention of the Federal Government.
Firstclassnewsline.net