TheCable

Oil marketers say N13.8 million additional cost is now required to lift a truck of petrol as the ex-depot price of the product has more than doubled compared to the pre-subsidy removal amount.

Last week, TheCable reported that the pump price of petrol is now as high as N540/litre in some filling stations — a result of President Bola Tinubu’s declaration that subsidy payment has ceased.

Speaking to TheCable on Wednesday, Mike Osatuyi, national operations controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), said the ex-depot price of the product is now N479.50 per litre.

He added that a truck of 33,000 liters of petrol now costs N21.8 million (from N7.7 million).

The IPMAN official said marketers are finding it cumbersome to cover the cost.

“The ex-depot price of the NNPC now is N479.50 per litre, which translates to about N21.8 million for one truck of 33,000 litres,” he said.

“Marketers are not finding it easy because you are paying N7.7 million for one truck but you are unable to carry it.

“So, you need an additional N13.8 million before you can get one truck of the product.”

Speaking on the new pricing for the commodity, Osatuyi said the amount fluctuates and varies in response to market realities.

He said pricing now depends on the crude price which can swing “up or down”.

“Crude price is now $76 to a barrel and it has to do with the exchange rate,” Osatuyi said.

“That is still not clear when the president said the black market and the official market will be unified.

“You cannot come out with the official rate. However, from the pricing of NNPC ex-depot, we believe that they have used about N630 or N650 to a dollar.

“That is what they have used. They have not come out but we too have put the figures to show you what the price is.”

PETROAN: OUR MEMBERS ARE STRUGGLING TO PAY THE PRICE DIFFERENTIAL 

Also speaking to TheCable, Billy Gillis-Harry, the national president of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), said the difference between the old ex-depot price and the new one is significant.

He said members of the association are finding it hard to pay as it would “come at a great cost”.

“The ex-depot price that is already posted by the NNPC, the differential is very high. Our members are struggling to raise funds to pay for the difference,” he said.

“It’s going to come at a great cost with bank charges and different things that will be attached to that, but we are hoping that our promise and our contract with Nigerians is that PETROAN should be efficiently distributing petroleum products at all times, so we’ll do the best we can.”

On the NNPC’s stance that oil marketing companies can now import products as the pump price is cost-reflective, Gillis-Harry said Nigeria must focus on increasing refining capacities.

“That is a welcome idea. We want an enabling environment to be made so that we can all work together and that we should not depend on imports,” the PETROAN president said.

“We should focus more on making sure that our own in-country refining capacities increase and the refineries are working.”