IPMAN narrates NNPC’s role in high fuel costs and scarcity

Amid severe shortages and the return of long fuel queues across the country, oil marketers under the auspices of the Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) have revealed that the state oil company, Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd NNPCL has not been supplying petroleum products directly to them for the past three years.

As a result, marketers said they now have to get their petroleum products from private depots at a premium of about N850.

IPMAN Chairman, Ore Depot, Shina Amoo, made this disclosure in an interview with Channels TV on Tuesday in Lagos.

He attributed the current fuel shortage to the lack of supply from the NNPC, which has affected everyone, including private depots.

“There is no supply anywhere. The supply that is available is not well distributed. We have been raising concerns about this for a long time.

“The products we sell, we get them at a premium price. Almost all the locations where we buy our products, they sell them to us at the price they want, ranging from N750 to N850. It all depends on the depot you buy from.

“We have been sorting from private depots for years. Instead of getting products from NNPC at a rate of five-sixty-seven. None of us have been able to get products from NNPC for the last two to three years,” he said.

Additionally, he noted that even if NNPC agreed to sell to marketers, there was a five-month wait for delivery, making the transaction ineffective.

“If we can get it from NNPC, when you pay the bill today, you might pick up the product in three to five months, so the profit will be eroded. So we all prefer to queue at any private depot. Private depots are selling at N830 to N850, that is the situation now,” Amoo added.

By Babajide Okeowo

IPMAN narrates NNPC’s role in high fuel costs and scarcity first appeared on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Ripples Nigeria.