Oil marketers are concerned about the delay in declaring the price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, manufactured by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, noting that the landing cost of imported PMS is presently around N1,120 per litre.
Dealers indicated that if the Dangote refinery’s PMS price is high, marketers will import the commodity because the government has opened up the market for competition.
In July of this year, the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria disclosed that the landing cost of PMS was N1,117 per liter. The landing cost is simply the price at which the commodity arrives at Nigeria’s ports.
While pump prices for fuel hovered between N600 and N700/litre in July, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited upped them this week to between N855 and N897/litre, while some private dealers boosted their rates to N1,000/litre.
It was also reported on Monday that the delay in releasing the price of Dangote petrol had prompted oil marketers to deepen conversations with their overseas partners in order to resume petrol imports.
Abubakar Maigandi, National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, indicated that IPMAN was speaking with its partners abroad while anticipating Dangote’s petrol price, but that a high cost from Dangote would result in significant PMS importation.
“On the landing cost of petrol, we are waiting for our foreign partners to calculate how much it will cost to bring the product to Nigeria. This is so that independent marketers will also see how to import the commodity. So we are waiting to get the data from them.
“I’ll tell you the actual landing cost once we get the data from our foreign partners. So if the landing cost is cheaper than what the Dangote refinery will sell, then we will see how to bring in the product.
“You know, it is now an open market, so anywhere we see a cheaper rate with good quality, we will buy from there. We don’t know the price of Dangote PMS. We are waiting for the refinery to release the price. However, we are discussing it with our foreign partners,” he said.
Maigandi explained that allowing multiple importers of the PMS would ensure availability and competition.
“One advantage of allowing everyone to bring in the product is that there will be guaranteed availability of products.
“There is also going to be competition. Once this happens, everybody will try to see how they can sell their products and buy another one. It is only when you sell what you have that you can generate profit,” he stated.
