Leadership News
Fuel Crisis: Marketers Cry Out Over Persistent Supply Glitches
A section of downstream operators has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) and the regulatory agency, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
Their appeal came yesterday as petrol scarcity at retail outlets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and other major cities across the country took a worrisome dimension.
Some of the independent marketers who spoke on the issue with journalists accused oil giant, NNPCL, the tank farm owners and the NMDPRA of frustrating seamless distribution to retail outlets.
One of the marketers who opted to speak under anonymity claimed that NNPC, being the sole importer of the products now, put the independent marketers whom they noted have the largest retail outlets in the country at the mercy of the DAPPMAN (the tank farm owners).
Investigation revealed that the NNPC, the sole importer, gives the Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) to the private depot owners operating under the aegis of DAPPMAN at an ex-depot price of N556.5 per litre.
Further checks, however, revealed that the tank farm owners sell to marketers at N700 to N740.00, leaving them with little or no profit margin to sell at filling stations.
Recalling the previous experience in the sector when the NNPC used to release petroleum products allocation to tank farm owners for distribution to marketers with a benchmark on price, the industry operators called on the federal government to sanitise the distribution chain by prevailing on the NNPC and its regulatory arm, the NMDPRA to insist on an Ex- depot price for the tank farm owners