Petrol market in confusion as marketers halt fuel import

Oil marketers, who imported petrol about four months ago have stopped importing the product into Nigeria, raising an air of uncertainty in the market.

Oil marketers told BusinessDay on Wednesday that they have stopped importing the products citing an inability to sell at market-driven prices due to Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited insistence on selling at fixed prices of N568 or N617 depending on the location.

“For more than four months now, no other importer has brought in the product except the NNPC Ltd,” one of the marketers, who got licensed to import petrol told BusinessDay.

The source explained that the current price of petrol had been sustained because the government was subsidising the commodity.

“It’s difficult to break even because the current landing cost is over N,1000; no marketer has brought in the product due to the reintroduction of subsidy,” the source stated.

Reacting to the development, Mele Kyari, the group CEO of NNPC Ltd said oil marketers withdrew from the importation of petrol because they could not manage the challenges of price fluctuations in the downstream sector.

“The oil companies withdrew because they can’t manage the oscillation and responsibility that the Petroleum Industry Act imposed on us. We have the market and I can assure you that we are managing this. Some marketers buy from us and sell. But there is an element that we can’t control. For instance, truck owners can adjust their prices, we have no control over that”, he told lawmakers during a session with the Senate Committee on Finance last December.

More details later…