Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, is looking forward to receiving a letter from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, before complying with the new petrol pump price of N108 per liter.
Abubakar Maigandi, its national vice president, told journalists on phone on Thursday, May 7, 2020, that the Corporation would approve once the marketers exhaust their stock at the previous price.
Despite NNPC ‘s announcement of a product pump price reduction from N145 to N125. 50 per liter on 30th March, virtually all the retail outlets, including the corporation’s affiliate ones still retained the former price.
But Maigandi who commended the Federal Government on the downward review of the pump price said marketers were still buying petrol for N111 per liters even when NNPC had announced the penultimate price reduction of N125. 50 per liter.
He said: “Immediately we receive an order from the government, we can reduce the price.”
On why marketers refused to comply with the previous announcement of price reduction, he said: “Now we have the old stock, once the old stock is finished, I know we are going to receive the order from the government then we will reverse to the new price.
He said the supply of petrol from the depots was fair but “they (depots) have not started selling at the new rate. We are also waiting for them to start selling at the new rate so that we can also adjust. The depots are still selling at N111 per liter.”
Maigandi said it was the same rate the depots sold while the government directed that petrol should sell for N125 per liter, saying the rate at which the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, PEF, was paying marketers was very slow.
Meanwhile, IPMAN president, Chinedu Okoronkwo, has called for increased local refining of petrol to mitigate the impact of the crash in global crude oil price on the nation’s economy.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria that the Federal Government should encourage investment in establishing modular refineries in the country.
“It is not all gloom. This will allow many people to see the opportunities on how to come into refining our products locally and we believe the government can encourage this by giving them incentives.
”When we refine here locally, we can even sell below what we are selling now to Nigerians which will be good for our economy.
“We need more modular refineries so that we can be able to enjoy these our God-given resources,” Okoronkwo said.
He said the recent reduction of Ex-Depot Price of Premium Motor Spirit by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, from N113.28k per liter to N108.00K per liter was not surprising due to the removal of subsidy.
Okoronkwo said: “The announcement of the new ex-depot price is what you should expect in a deregulated regime.
“There is no more subsidy and it is the market value that determines the price.
“We have started the journey to deregulate the market like what is obtainable in AGO (diesel) and we will get there gradually.”
He also explained why some marketers were still selling the PMS at N125 per liter despite the reductions made in recent weeks to the product.
Okoronkwo said: “It is not about compliance with the price reduction because some people can even sell below the current price.
”The market is not being regulated again so it depends on the individual marketer to do what will attract customers.
“There is the availability of products and customers and they have the right to choose where they want to buy fuel, and these filling station owners know that,” he said.
