Marketers stall petrol importation over forex unavailability
The inability of oil marketers to source foreign exchange (forex) may have stalled their planned importation of premium motor spirit (PMS) known as petrol.
“We cannot get forex to buy at the import and export (I & E) window. It is the old stock in Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) depot we now depend on. So, if there is no way to get forex, then it means importation cannot be done,” a source in a leading oil marketers association.
The source, who pleaded for anonymity, said the I & E Window, which offers a lower forex rate of about N740 to N760 to a dollar as against the N950 to a dollar in the open market, has been “illiquid and unable to provide the $25million to $30million required for the importation of PMS by dealers’’.
This, our source said, had led to the suspension of petrol importation by dealers who were ready to bring in the product.
Consequently, the ex-depot price of petrol at private depots have risen to N600 per litre from N555 per litre, although price remained unchanged at N557 per litre at the NNPCL depots, The Nation has learnt.
The effect of the sudden change has led to panic buying of petrol leading to queues build up at filling stations.
Yesterday, several petrol retail outlets closed to motorists while the ones that sold had long queues. However, there has not been an increase in the pump price of the commodity as it remains the same, yesterday.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) National Vice President, Abubakar Maigandi, in a chat with The Nation, noted that the pump prices remains unchanged in private and NNPCL retail outlets.
“The private depots on Friday increased their ex-depot price from N555 per litre to N600/litre. But the NNPCL depots have not changed their depot price from what has been.
“Also, pump price is still the same. It has not changed,” he explained.
There has been anxiety that the pump price might rise since the Naira slumped to about N950 to a dollar at the weekend.
Should the naira continue to fall, our source warned that increase in pump price may set in pretty soon because as the stock deplete without forex to restock, then product shortage will set in.
The National Operations Controller, IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, said since the petrol is now determined by market force, then any fluctuation in the market, especially as it relates to forex, will affect pricing. He said though his association realise the hardship in the country at the moment, but oil marketers as well have to remain in business.
“The oil market is dollar denominated, so anything that affects the dollar will automatically translate to the product because we are still importing petrol,” he said.
