As the federal government plans to enforce the sale of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, at N195 per liter, the Independent marketers have threatened to shut down operations beginning from Monday.
It was gathered during the weekend that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, security agencies and the downstream regulator had all agreed that petrol be sold at N195/litre.
Oil marketers said the agreement was reached at a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, as participants resolved that beginning from Monday, February 6, 2023, the pump price of petrol should not exceed N195/litre, a development which dealers, particularly independent marketers, described as tough due to the high ex-depot price of the commodity.
They told newsmen that to avoid having their outlets sanctioned, many filling stations operated by independent marketers would be shut from Monday as it made no business sense to sell a product lower than the cost price.
This is likely to further prolong the petrol scarcity and queues in many parts of the country as independent marketers control about 80 per cent of filling stations nationwide.
IPMAN’s National President, Debo Ahmed, told our correspondent that the approved ex-depot price of petrol was recently raised from N148/litre by the NNPCL to N172/litre, but depots hardly dispense the commodity at this cost.
