The realistic pump price of Premium Motor Spirits (popularly known as petrol) is between N200 and N210 per litre, according to the National Operations Controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr Mike Osatuyi.
This is as the stock of petrol by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has dipped by 5,481,239 litres, going by industry data released on Tuesday.
In most parts of the country fuel has been selling for between N200 and N250 per litre, while over-the-country average (official) price of petrol is N169 per litre
Osatuyi told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday that the Federal Government’s pricing template that fixed pump price at N169 per litre of petrol is grossly unrealistic when landing cost of the fuel at the station is N194 per litre.
“I buy petrol at N186.50 per litre from the depot and it costs me about N9.50 to get the same litre to the pump after paying levies. How do you want me to sell at N169 per litre when I have incurred additional costs”?
“No marketer can sell petrol at the regulated price of N169 per litre with the current realities when landing cost is N194 per litre.
“Those saddled with the responsibility of petroleum importation and pricing should be held responsible for the price disparities at the fuel stations.
“The current price of petrol does not reflect inflation, Foreign Exchange costs, union dues and transportation”, Osatuyi said.
He stressed that government’s pricing template did not address current realities and pricing indices.
“We should have a current template that will reflect current realities in petrol business pending the time that government would deregulate the sector fully.
“There are some cost fundamentals, additional charges, and levies that are not factored into the template currently in use”, he noted.
Osatuyi said that government should open up on petrol landing costs and the realistic price at the pumps.
He stressed that a total deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry remained the best option.
According to him, total deregulation remains the solution to address challenges in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry as it will allow interested investors to import freely.
“Total deregulation remains the best solution to ending fuel scarcity.
“The cost implication of total deregulation will make the price of petrol too expensive for Nigerians, but it will shift the burden from the government to end users,” he said.
Reports from Lagos indicate that majority of fuel stations belonging to independent marketers sold petrol at between N180 and N200 per litre, while long queues were observed at stations of major marketers selling at the official pump price of N169 per litre.
Although the drop in petrol stock was marginal, queues for petrol persisted in Abuja, Nasarawa, Niger and some other northern states.
Figures obtained from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) on Tuesday indicated that NNPCL’s total PMS stock as at 6th November was 1,912,725,464 litres.
This dipped to 1,907,244,225 litres a day after, indicating a drop of 5,481,239 litres, while the total days’ sufficiency was 30.84, according to the NMDPRA data.
NNPCL has remained the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria for several years running. Other marketers halted petrol imports due to their inability to access foreign exchange without hassles.
However, the queues for petrol in many northern states did not abate on Tuesday despite the claims by NMDPRA that there were over 30 days’ sufficiency, rather a lot of filling stations were shut due to lack of products to dispense.
