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Fuel crisis deepens
�As marketers suspend importation
SOPURUCHI ONWUKA (Lagos) WALE FOLARIN (Ibadan)
S PECULATIONS over
further increase in the pump price of petrol gained ground yesterday with
revelation that marketers have suspended product importation on account of
exorbitant import prices.
Saturday Champion
checks on the importers who supply marketers in the domestic
market with products showed that ripple effect of high product prices in the
international market has caused the importers to suspend further imports until
the pump price crisis in the country is resolved.
Our sources in some of the midstream
marketing companies said they considered it too risky to continue importation at
this time when Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) was mobilising for mass protest
against even the old prices which, according to them had even become
unprofitable.
The development which posts the gloomy
picture of imminent scarcity came as retail marketers who have been in marathon
consultations since Monday were observed to be pulling out the figures in their
price boards in perceived preparation for the expected price jump.
Some of the companies were observed
selling the premium motor spirit also called petrol between N60 and N70 per
litre in some of their station on Thursday.
Saturday Champion
notes that some of the marketers also import directly from
the international market and may likely adjust their pumps to reflect increasing
import costs on the product.
One of them said the landed cost of PMS
excluding margin, port charges and transportation stood at N55 per litre as at
last Wednesday, a situation which explains the controversial pump price jump
from N52 to N70 per litre of petrol in some of the company�s stations.
Another marketer attributed the rising
prices at international market to approaching winter season in the United States
and Europe where high demand for heating oil has compelled high prices of crude
oil at the export markets.
Winter which sets in in the last quarter
of the year causes routine price rise in both crude oil and white products as
refiners scramble for crude feedstock for production of transportation and
heating fuel.
Strong crude prices usually result in
strong product prices as refiners buy crude oil from producers and sell white
products to consumers around the world.
Sources at the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) could not give exact ex-depot prices to other marketers even
as they said they have lost oversight authority over other market players.
Downstream inspectors at the Department of
Petroleum Resources (DPR) who are supposed to strictly monitor the government�s
price caps on petrol could not be reached for comments yesterday even as no
inspection on the reported retail stations were observed.
Meanwhile, most marketers continued with
the old prices yesterday even as most of them have left their price boards
blanks of figures, thus escalating fears of imminent price hike.
When contacted over the issue, the General
Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, pleaded
for more time to make consultations, stating that he had no comment on the
matter for now.
Also officials of DPR were in a protracted
management meeting at press time and efforts to extract comment from any of them
proved unsuccessful.
Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory
Agency (PPPRA) had on Thursday denied issuing new price templates in support of
any new price hike.
Meanwhile, long queues were seen at petrol
stations yesterday in Ibadan Oyo State capital following rumoured increase of
fuel price to N75 per litre.
Motorists who heard about the rumoured
increase immediately resorted to panic buying of fuel in anticipation of
scarcity.
Some filling stations refused to sell fuel
to motorists in order to maximise their gains in the events of a price increase.
However, those who sold fuel to motorists
were seen selling between N52.00 and N55.000 per litre as at press time.
Commercial vehicle operators were yet to
exploit the situation, as they have not increased their fares.
But the Petroleum Products Pricing and
Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) in Lagos, Thursday denied approving any price increase
even as the Nigeria Labour Congress has slated a meeting of its National
Executive Committee for next Tuesday in Abuja. It is expected that the impending
strike already scheduled to commence will top the agenda.
Signs of new prices showed on Thursday in
spite of the denials when some motorists in Lagos claimed that they bought
petrol at N70.00 per litre at the Mobil outlet in Maryland, Thursday evening
even as the product sold for N64.00 at Conoil stations located on Airport Road.
But nothing official has been said about
the new prices.
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