Fear of petrol scarcity loomed at the weekend as most of the
six major oil-marketing companies and NIPCO Plc have exhausted their stock of
the product. The shortage has led to an increase in the depot price of petrol. Investigations
revealed that some depot owners have capitalized on the tight supply situation
to sell at ex-depot price of between N93 and N100, as against the official
price of N89 per litre.
However, sources said while the pump price of petrol would
still be maintained at N97 per litre in Lagos and its environs, the marketers
could capitalize on the increase in depot price to jack up the price in the
hinterland where there is less supervision from regulatory agencies’ officials.
The drop in fuel supply, it was learnt, was worsened by the
refusal of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to allow fuel cargo
imported by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to discharge its
products for the marketers at Apapa Port over unresolved financial issues. Deputy
Director and spokesperson of the DPR, Mrs. Belema Osibodu, however, said that
the vessel was allowed to discharge after all the relevant documents requested
by the agency were presented.
A spokesperson of the
NNPC, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, said that the vessel was prevented from
discharging because it had “a financial lien.”
Sources within the six companies that constitute the Major
Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and NIPCO Plc, whose depots are
located in Apapa, Lagos, said that the seven companies had a two-day stock
level which was largely exhausted.
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