-Pix above: NNPC depot
As Nigerians eagerly await the release of Premium Motor Spirit, aka, petrol, from the $20bn Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited says it will lift the product from the plant on September 15 but outlined factors that would determine its price.
It said foreign exchange rates and market forces would influence the cost of petrol, stressing that the market had been deregulated.
This came as oil marketers declared on Thursday that about 2,000 tankers were still awaiting to load the product at various depots of the national oil company in Lagos, Warri and Port Harcourt.
Also, the Federal Government declared that there was going to be a massive supply of petrol at the weekend as vessels had started offloading, but ruled out PMS price fixing.
Operators stated that the government might have put an end to petrol subsidy going by its latest position on the pricing of PMS.
NNPCL said foreign exchange illiquidity had been a significant factor influencing the fluctuation in prices of petrol, which is governed by unrestricted free market forces, as provided for in the Petroleum Industry Act.
The Executive Vice President of Downstream, NNPCL, Adedapo Segun, said on Thursday during a live television programme that the current fuel scarcity was expected to “subside in a few days as more stations recalibrate and begin selling PMS.”
He said Section 205 of the PIA, which established NNPCL, stipulated that petroleum prices were determined by unrestricted free market forces.
“The market has been deregulated, meaning that petrol prices are now determined by market forces rather than by the government or NNPC Ltd. Additionally, the exchange rate plays a significant role in influencing these prices,” Segun added.
On the commencement of lifting PMS from the Dangote refinery, Segun said NNPC was awaiting the September 15 timeline provided by the refinery, adding that the national oil company had nearly a thousand filling stations nationwide and was collaborating with marketers to “ensure that stations open early, close late, in order to maintain adequate fuel supply to meet the needs of Nigerians.”
“We are also engaging relevant authorities to ensure product diversions are prevented and timely deliveries to all stations are ensured. The scarcity should ease in the next few days as more stations recalibrate and begin operations,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the National Operations Controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mustapha Zarma, told one our correspondent that dealers had most of their trucks trapped at depots awaiting product from NNPCL.
“The queues in Abuja are heavy. Nobody is loading. right now, most of the tickets of independent marketers, which had been paid for since the last three months, have not been cleared to load,” Zarma told correspondents.
“And with the recent increase in the price of petrol, there has not been any official statement to say that this is the additional money you are supposed to pay before you lift your order. It is only the retail arm of NNPCL that is lifting products to their stations.
“We have over 2,000 trucks that are at the various depots and they will not give you the product now until you pay up the difference. And up till now, they have not communicated to us what the difference is.”(agency)///
