The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has said that the NNPC may continue as the major importer of petroleum products, due to foreign exchange constraints by its members.
Mr Tunji Oyebanji, Chairman, MOMAN, said in Lagos on Thursday that the difficulties in sourcing for forex by marketers to import products needed to be urgently addressed.
Oyebanji, who was reacting to the new price band of N140.80 to N143.80 per litre announced for the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), said that the price change was in reaction to developments in the market.
He said: “As the prices of crude go up and down, so will the prices of refined petroleum products fluctuate.
“Unfortunately, Nigeria can no longer afford to subsidise the prices; so, we should be ready for these periodic changes.
“We still feel it will be better for marketers to handle the pricing, but at least, we now seem to be going in the right direction.
“However, sourcing of forex remains an issue; so, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) may continue to be the major importer of products until further notice,” Oyebanji said.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had on July 1 announced the increment of PMS from the previous price band of N121.50 to N123.50 per litre.
“After a review of the prevailing market fundamentals in the month of June and considering marketers’ realistic operating costs as much as practicable, we wish to advise a new PMS pump price band of N140.80-N143.80 per litre, for the month of July 2020.
“All marketers are advised to operate within the indicative prices as advised by the PPPRA, ” the agency had said in the circular to marketers.
