The rate of importation of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), popularly known as diesel, has slowed down as West African vessels laden with the product are said to be struggling to find offshore buyers. A major oil marketer said the challenge faced by importers in obtaining dollars had made new diesel bookings to decline.
The marketer, who preferred not to be named, said that despite the recent floating rate policy for the dollar adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), it was still hard for marketers to get dollar for diesel import with the little available directed to petrol importation.
“The major challenge is that companies are not able to access FX,” he said. “It is not as if we are not importing, but volume has dropped.”
He said the situation could lead to further increase in pump price of diesel, which has risen by about 50% this year from N130 to N200 per litre. An official of Total downstream in Abuja said that the price of AGO at its outlet dropped recently from N205 per litre to N200.
