MANY Independent oil marketers, yesterday, closed outlets in
National Operation Controller,
"They have shut their filling stations because there is no product. Also, some of them source it at higher prices, ranging between N165 and N175 per litre."
However, the
The ex-depot price is the price which marketers buy products at the depot, and determines how much they sell to motorists.
In a statement yesterday, the Secretary,
He stated: "Our association doesn't operate across
"Nigerian
"You have to go through the processes of obtaining Proforma Invoice from
Meanwhile, Vanguard survey showed that there were still long queues in many parts of the nation, especially Badagry, where prices also rose from N190 to N250 per litre yesterday.
In
Outside the city centre, where independent marketers transacted business, pump price ranged from N175 to N187 per litre at filling stations visited by Vanguard.
A government spokesman had last week in a telephone chat with Vanguard assured that the supply would improve this week.
He said: "While it is difficult to give a definite date (when the situation will normalize) but within the next few days because more vessels with clean fuel are coming through but the distribution logistics take some time, so very soon it will return to normal.
"The more PMS that comes in, the shorter the time frame but the distribution logistics also have its time frame. You can see that more filling stations are dispensing only that there are queues but the more filling stations that are receiving new supplies the less the concentration of the queues. I am expecting that within the next week we will be seeing the receding of these queues."
On why independent stations were selling above government regulated price, the Public Relations Officer of the
"Marketers are running a business not charity. The pump price is determined by how you buy it from the depot. Government owned depots are not selling to independent marketers because they do not have the product.
"As I speak to you all the orders we placed no one has received any supply. So those who now decide to go to private depots to buy at a higher price have to sell at a price that allows them to recover their cost and make small profit," Ukadike said.
The government had two days ago admitted its role in the importation of adulterated petrol into the country, blaming it on inspection failure.
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva said: "In the last weeks, Nigerians have grappled with fuel scarcity, not because of the absence of supply of products but due to inspection failure, which allowed adulterated products into the country. "This is regrettable, and the Federal Government sympathizes with the citizenry over the unforeseen hardship, occasioned by the inevitable scarcity. Let me once again appeal to Nigerians to be patient with government in finding lasting solutions to the crisis".
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