…Marketers hike petrol ex-depot prices to N83
Kunle Kalejaye 25 February 2015, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Investigation by SweetcrudeReports, conducted over the last four weeks has revealed that importation of fuel into the country by oil marketers has dropped by 14 percent.
This, the marketers say, may inflict on the nation a debilitating fuel scarcity between March and April.
After four weeks of monitoring depot activities in Lagos, findings revealed that the drop in fuel importation is a result of the federal government’s inability to pay marketers their two-year outstanding ‘refund’ which runs into several trillions of naira.
It was discovered that out of the 64 depots in Lagos, less than 10 of them currently stock petrol.
SweetcrudeReports sited depots at Ibafon, Dockyard, Marine Beach, Kirikiri and Satellite town.
At Ibafon depots, it was discovered that the N77.66 ex-depot price for petrol as instructed by by the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, is not being adhered to by marketers.
Some of the depots now sell the product at between N81 and N83 per litre as ex-depot price but the transaction is not documented in order to avoid the revocation of their import permit by DPR and to enable them process their payment from the federal government.
Although, the N77.66 ex-depot price is boldly displayed at the entrance of some depots, checks revealed that marketers sell above the actual ex-depot price to make more profit.