Petroleum marketers and depot owners have disclosed why petrol is still selling at high prices in Nigeria despite the arrival of new vessels at the Lagos ports.
Depot owners disclosed that the ongoing hunger protests, which began on Thursday, August 1, 2024, were responsible for the lingering scarcity and the resulting high prices.
Findings by TimesNow.com.ng show that petrol stations that crashed the prices earlier in the week have hiked them again due to the lack of fresh supplies.
Selected marketers had crashed the product prices from N850 and N900 per litre to N750 on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in anticipation of fresh supplies from the depots.
Checks, however, show that the filling stations have reverted to selling the product for as high as N800 and N850 per litre.
The scarcity began last weekend with petroleum product marketers selling petrol at N1,000 per litre and black marketers selling as much as N1,300.
Punch reports that more vessels needed to stay longer at the ports till the weekend to ensure the circulation of PMS nationwide.
However, the depot owners reportedly refused to load products due to hunger protests for security reasons.
Operators disclosed that members of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) were primed to load products from the depots but were prevented by the owners.
Tanker drivers disclosed that they would continue loading petrol despite the protest.
Punch quoted the president of the National Association of Transport Owners (NARTO), Yusuf Othman, as saying that he had asked members of the association to continue product lifting but to exercise caution.
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported that oil marketers have disclosed that they cannot solely purchase petrol from the Dangote Refinery when it begins to sell the product to Nigerians.
The oil marketers disclosed that they will sell the product at the prevailing pump prices at petrol stations in Nigeria unless the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) intervenes.
Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group, had said that the refinery would commence selling petrol in August after resolving crude oil supply challenges with the help of NNPC and the Nigerian government.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
