Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

Fuel crisis: NMDPRA, IPMAN agree to N172 ex-depot price

By Femi Adekoya
10 February 2023   |   4:00 am
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have agreed to an ex-depot price of N172, noting that the move is expected to put an end to the long queues at filling stations and racketeering of petroleum marketers in the country.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have agreed to an ex-depot price of N172, noting that the move is expected to put an end to the long queues at filling stations and racketeering of petroleum marketers in the country.

The Regional Coordinator, South West, NMDPRA, Ayo Cardoso, during a visit to Ijegun tank farms and depots in Ijegun Egba area of Lagos State, assured that the Authority would ramp up its enforcement exercise to ensure that the N172 ex-depot price is enforced effectively across the nation.

According to him, the Authority is always monitoring the system end-to-end right from the vessel to the retail point.

In his words: “We are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, because we have sufficient petroleum products in the system and I can assure you that in some few days, the fuel scarcity will be addressed,” he assured.

He noted that as of today, over 1.3 billion litres of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) are available for distribution to put an end to the scarcity.

“As of today, the inland depots have about 580 million litres of fuel and the offshore, we have about 690 million litres as well. Altogether, we have about 1.3 billion litres. So, that shows that we have enough fuel for circulation representing 52 per cent sufficiency gauge. We know we have issues with distribution, but they are being addressed,” he added.

Responding to a question about the Authority’s plans for erring petroleum marketers selling above the regulated price, Cardoso said the Authority would shut down the operations of erring petroleum marketers when normalcy returns.

“Although, the Federal Government has not categorically come out to say that the regulated price has changed, but the template we are operating before is no longer tenable. What we are talking about now is an adjusted price on the regulated price,” he added.

Also speaking, the National Operations Controller, IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, said all its members have been ordered to sell at N172, promising that any of its members that sell above the stipulated price would be reported to the Authority.

He, however, urged the federal government to beef up its supply to the Ijegun-Abuke Ado tank farms and depots since it accounts for 35 per cent of the truck out in Lagos State.

“I have told my members that nobody should buy above N172 and if any marketer is selling above that, the marketer would be reported. We urge the federal government, through the NNPC, to beef up supply to Ijegun Abule-Ado tank farm, because they account for about one-third of the loading out in Lagos and this is where IPMAN get their products too. There is a need to supply the system effectively so that there will not be any gap.

“We need back to back supply to the tank farms and IPMAN account for 80 per cent of their customers. We have a surveillance committee that is monitoring the activities of our members. We have also had discussions internally to say since the government will be selling to us at N172 ex-depot price, we need to behave and we believe our members would comply accordingly,” he averred.

On his part, the Chairman, Ijegun-Egba Tank Farm Owners Association, Debo Olujimu, said the visit was for the regulators and the entire Nigerians to know that PMS is fully available and it is sold at the government regulated price in all the depots in Ijegun.

“What we have been receiving so far from NNPC as of date is over 150 million litres. We are telling Nigerians that this product is coming out of the tank farms at the government regulated price and Nigerians can trust us and going forward, we expect that products would be sold at the retail end of the business at affordable prices which the government has fixed.

“The official price remains what NNPC has been selling which is about N170 per litre and when you add up all the extra cost it sums up to N172 ex-depot,” he stated.

The Terminal Manager, Emadeb Energy Services Limited, Umar Aliyu, said the Ijegun Egba axis contributes almost 35 per cent of the truck out in Lagos and expressed hopes that within the next seven to eight days, the fuel scarcity situation would be addressed.

“We are just receiving about 26 million litres of PMS. We will commence loading as soon as possible. We intend to load 24/7. We are most grateful to the federal government for intervening to ensure that we have these cargoes on time. We have six loading arms for PMS and we are capable of trucking out about 4 million litres a day,” he said.

0 Comments