Oil depot owners still sell petrol above official price

Some oil marketers and depot owners have defied the Federal Government directives not to sell petrol above the ex-depot price of N123.128 – N133.128, National Daily has gathered.

According to National Daily investigation, some marketers and depot owners were selling above the official ex-depot, thus pushing the pump price above the N145 per litre in some filling stations. It was gathered that major marketers who received forex assistance from the international oil companies (IOCs) source dollars at N320, and according to their calculations, this will translates to a pump price of N165 per litre, against the government’s projected N145.

For instance, at the weekend, ASCON Petroleum was selling at ex-depot price of N134, BOVAS at N134, Heyden Petroleum at N135/136 while MRS and Eternal oil were selling at N134.

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Depots that sold product within the range of the price band include: Fatgbems – N130/N132; Rahamaniyya – N133; Folawiyo –N133 and Integrated Oil – N132/N133.

On Friday, some of the marketers also flouted the pricing regulations, with ASCON selling at N134 per litre; Hensmor- N134; MRS – N134; and Heyden N134.50/N135.

However, other marketers operated within the ex-depot price band and these included: BOVAS –N133; Eterna Oil –N133; Fatgbems –N132; Folawiyo – N132.50; Integrated Oil –N132; Index Petroleum – N132; Sahara Energy – N133 and Rahamaniyya –N133.

The federal government had earlier increased the pump price to N145 to allow marketers source for foreign exchange at N285 per dollar, against the official N197 for which the previous pump price of N86 was based.

The independent marketers and other importers on the other hand, have however argued that their exchange rate at the parallel market is as high as N360 per dollar, thus making the N145 official pump price potentially unsustainable.

The PPPRA warned that it would continue to monitor the market fundamentals in line with the policy of appropriate pricing, with a view to advising the marketers on subsequent guiding price band for petroleum products at the beginning of every month.