Marketers react as 125/litre fuel price effects

Onyxnewsng reports that private fuel marketers are yet to reduce the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) to the new official price.

The online news platform reports that the retail stations owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation have commenced selling petroleum at N125 per litre .

According to other reports, many filling stations including Oando, Mobil and Capital Oil and Gas on the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway as well as Total at Ikosi-Ketu, earlier on Thursday observed that the private marketers were selling at N145 per litre of petrol.

“What we are asking the government is that: who is going to pay us between the old price and the new price on our old stock? And without them verifying our old stock and telling us what they will pay us and when they will pay us, we will not load,” a top official of one of the fuel marketers’ associations said on condition of anonymity.

He said marketers would continue to sell the product at the old rate pending when the issues would be resolved.

“ Marketers are holding their strategy session . We will have a common front . The GMD ( of NNPC ) has invited us for a stakeholders’ meeting , which should have been done before the announcement of the new price . By the end of today, we will have a clearer picture of how they are going to involve us,” he added.

The Federal Government had pointed out  on Wednesday that the drop in crude oil prices had lowered the expected open market price of imported petrol below the official pump price of N145 per litre .

“Therefore, Mr President has approved that Nigerians should benefit from the reduction in the price of PMS which is a direct effect of the crash in global crude oil prices,” the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said in a statement.

He said the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency would subsequently issue a monthly guide to the NNPC and marketers on the appropriate price.

The NNPC, on Wednesday directed all its retail station to change the retail pump price to N125 per litre from N145.

The Group Managing Director, NNPC , Mallam Mele Kyari, said the corporation had reviewed its ex-coastal, ex-depot and NNPC retail pump prices in compliance with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva’s directives on fuel price.

He said, “ Effective March 19, 2020, NNPC ex-coastal price for PMS has been reviewed downwards from N 117.6/litre to N99.44 / litre while the ex -depot price is reduced from N 133 .28 / litre to N 113. 28/ litre.

“These reductions will , therefore , translate to N 125 / litre retail pump price. Despite the obvious cost implication of this immediate adjustment to the corporation , NNPC is delighted to effect this massive reduction of N 20 / litre for the benefit of all Nigerians.”