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Marketers disagree over fuel
price
TONY ITA ETIM, Port Harcourt,
FRANCIS AWOWOLE-BROWNE, SOPURUCI ONWUKA, Lagos, and DAVID AGBA,
Abuja
DISAGREEMENT
is rocking the ranks of the major oil marketers following the recent marginal
increase in cost of petrol by a section of them.
Investigations by Daily Champion
yesterday showed that the arbitrary hike in the pump price of a litre of petrol
from N42.80 to N43.90 was not a decision of the committee of major marketers.
The revelation coincided with the
commencement by oil workers of their phased protest against federal government’s
inability to repair the refineries as they (workers) wore red tops to their work
places yesterday even as government invited leaders of the two oil workers
unions to a meeting in Abuja today.
Also, Elf Nigeria has closed down four of
its oil wells since last Friday over a labour dispute with its workers. The shut
down of the wells amount to a loss of over N32 million.
Daily Champion
investigation on the new fuel price hike showed that not all the major marketers
were aware of the latest increases while some more joined in belatedly. The
situation, it was observed, is breeding confusion amongst the majors.
Total Nigeria Plc last weekend led a few
major marketing companies in the arbitrary hike.
The hike came barely three weeks after a
nationwide strike threatened to ground the economy.
The strike held for three days despite a
Federal High Court injunction restraining government from allowing fuel price
jumps until a substantive case on the issue was determined even as labour was
ordered not to proceed on strike pending the resolution of the legal tussle.
Attempts to get the new cost components
that built the new pump price were unsuccessful as some officials of Total
declined comments on the issue.
An official of the company who pleaded
anonymity, however, told Daily Champion that Total was of the view that
the downstream market is now liberalised and that marketers have the right to
fix own prices and leave the consumers to make choice.
But a source from Mobil Oil Nigeria (MON)
Plc said the price hike was not a decision of the committee of major marketers
which has been pressing for full market liberalisation.
Mobil is not one of those that hiked fuel
prices.
The source, which is very close to the
major marketers forum, said MON would never be a party to any discussion that
would aim to fix prices in a market environment.
The source explained that the committee of
major marketers was formed to evolve synergy in satisfying demands in the
nation’s downstream petroleum market, given the falling capacity of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the emerging market deregulation.
"The committee doesn’t discuss price and
Mobil particularly can never be part of such discussions as a matter of company
policy," the source emphasised.
Reports that Conoil joined in raising
petrol pump price could not be confirmed as calls to the Public Affairs Manager,
Mr. Biodun Azeez, were unsuccessful.
The latest price increase contradicts
expectations of a price fall following cascading international crude platts, a
major cost factor and determinant in the downstream market.
Crude prices have maintained a steady fall
upon effective weathering of waves of violence in the Middle East, successful
power transition in Iraq and reintegration of Libya in the international
community after decades of diplomatic suspension by the world’s leading nations.
Industry sources told Daily Champion
that the upswing in domestic pump prices might have arisen from the slash of
import volumes by the NNPC.
The sources said the reduced NNPC import
volumes would translate to higher import volumes by marketers at high cost.
Meanwhile, oil and gas sector workers made
good their threat to commence a phased protest against the sordid state of the
nation’s refineries as they wore red tops to their places of work yesterday.
Government, however, moved to avert
possible national strike resulting from the protests by inviting the leaders of
the two workers’ unions in the sector to a meeting scheduled for Abuja today.
Daily Champion
gathered that leaders of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers
(NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN)
have been invited to a series of meetings with the Bureau of Public Enterprises
(BPE), the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC today and the Minister of
Employment, Labour and Productivity tomorrow.
PENGASSAN President, Mr. Brown Ogbeifun
confirmed the invitation and the readiness of the two union leaders to attend,
but added that the meetings would not in any way stop the protests which had
started.
The Joint National Executive Council (NEC)
of NUPEND and PENGASSAN had penultimate weekend in Benin, Edo State capital,
resolved to embark on the protests which is expected to lead to full strike over
the non-chalant attitude of government towards the repair of the refineries.
The decision to embark on phased protests
came in the wake of expiry of a May 31, 2004 deadline promised by government
within which to fix the four refineries but which government failed to meet.
A resolution of the meeting signed by the
principal officers of the two unions said they were taking the decision to
safeguard the jobs of their members, thousands of whom, they claimed, had been
thrown into the unemployment market already on account of the dormant refineries
and petrochemical plants.
Yesterday, scores of the workers were seen
wearing red-T-shirts as directed by the unions to express their displeasure with
the state of the sector generally and the refineries in particular.
In Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the Zonal
Chairman of NUPENG, Mr. Bassey Henry, explained why workers in the oil sector
are wearing rags to work.
According to him, the rags to work is to
potray the plight of Nigerian workers since the refineries were shut down.
Harry said the action is one of the
warning signals that would culminate in a total strike from July 26.
At the Eleme Petrochemical Company, Alesa
in Rivers State the workers turned out in their usual wears.
Some of the workers said they were not
well informed while other stated that they were not sure it will work.
At the Eleme Refinery work went on
smoothly as the workers did not turn out in rags.
A source at Shell Petroleum Development
Company, Port Harcourt told Daily Champion that complaint with the
rug-to-work would be taken seriously by the union with effect from today.
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