The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), has attributed why some filling stations are now selling petrol above N200 per litre to the high rate of logistics.
In a statement cited by BizWatch Nigeria, MOMAN sympathised with customers and Nigerians over the challenges being faced in the purchase of petrol at filling stations across the country.
The statement read: “These queues are caused by exceptionally high demand and bottlenecks in the distribution chain. The major cause is the shortage and high (US dollar) costs of daughter vessels for ferrying product from mother vessels to depots along the coast.
“Next is an inadequate number of trucks to meet the demand to deliver product from depots to filling stations nationwide. These high logistics and exchange rate costs continue to put pressure on prices at the pumps.
“Over the past three months, staff and management of MOMAN companies have worked diligently at depots and filling stations to relieve the stress faced by customers through the Christmas and New year period.
“Our members have again agreed to extend depot loading hours as well as keep strategically situated service stations open for long hours to ease access to fuel for our customers.”
Meanwhile, the federal government (FG) was reported to have quietly approved N180-N185 per litre as the new official pump price range for petrol as the black market continued to boom in Lagos and other parts of the country on Thursday amid the scarcity of the product.
Sources familiar with the development said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government gave the approval to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for an upward review of the official retail price of petrol from a range of N165-170 to N180-N185.
