Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, is presently fixed at a pump price of between N900 and N1,000 per litre at many filling stations run by independent oil marketers.
The owners of these stations don’t appear to give a damn about how much the product costs at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company’s retail locations. The cost of gasoline at NNPC stations is between N568 and N617 per liter. Queues at the stations result from this frequently.
The Federal Government has also promised to close filling stations that are found to be dispensing PMS at excessive prices, in response to Nigerians’ concerns on the high cost of the product by independent petrol sellers.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority made this announcement, emphasizing that it was not in Nigerians’ best interests for marketers to make money off of the sale of PMS.
According to independent oil marketers, the high pump prices were caused by the fact that they have been purchasing petrol from private depot owners for up to N850 a litre since last week.
George Ene-Ita, the NMDPRA’s spokesperson, countered that the regulator receives varied reports on petrol prices from its employees at the depots.
Because we urge them to publicize the pricing at the depots every day and they are not N850/litre, our depot employees perceive a different price. We receive a different estimate from our field representatives at the depots,” he stated
When told that some filling stations operated by independent marketers in Lagos and many other states dispense their products for as high as N900 and N1,000/litre, the NMDPRA official said such outlets would be brought to book if apprehended.
“If we get these outlets, all we do is to try and shut them down, because NNPC is the company that brings in the product and they tell us how much they sell as their ex-depot prices to off-takers. And we sit down together and work out the margins and there is no way it should be that high,” Ene-Ita declared.
The NMDPRA official further noted that there was no way the agency could reconcile the high cost of petrol sold by independent marketers.
“Do you have these stations displaying the high prices on their pumps?” Ene-Ita asked.
Our correspondent responded in the affirmative, and the regulatory agency’s official declared again, “Once we get these outlets, we are going to shut them down. NNPC tells us how much they sell and there is no way the pump prices should be that high. We don’t expect it to be higher than N650/litre.”
The NMDPRA spokesperson warned marketers involved in profiteering to desist from the act, stressing that the agency would not fold its hands and allow operators to cheat Nigerians.
Findings by thepage.ng shows that marketers are making more profit as the fuel crisis rocking the country has refused to end.
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