Again, Petrol Price Increased

Filling stations in Lagos and Ogun States have increased the pump price of petrol to N170 per litre on Tuesday from N162 per litre.

It was gathered that this is as a result of the supply shortage facing private depots in Apapa.

Some of the stations were Capital Oil and Gas, Fatgbems and Amo Oil, all along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Another station, Enyo Retail, adjusted its pump price to N165 per litre from N162.

Speaking to The Punch, the National Operation Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr Mike Osatuyi said members of his association had to increase the pump price because they bought the product at N160-N161 from depot owners.

He said: “My members buying from DAPPMAN members are buying at N160-N161, and they will have to add their transportation costs to it. So, at what price do you want them to sell? Even that N170 is still very cheap.”

Osatuyi added that the PPMC had told marketers to register under the new payment method, called ‘PPMC Customer Express’, before they could buy products from it.

“Right now, PPMC has said that the era of ATP (Authority to Pay) has gone. It means that payment has to be made online. So, my members are now in the process of doing that, and without doing it, we cannot lift products,” he said.

Recall that IPMAN members had last Thursday disrupted loading of petroleum products at private depots in Apapa on Wednesday as well as Ibadan, Ejigbo and Mosimi depots belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

They picketed the facilities to protest their inability to get products due to a new payment method introduced by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the NNPC.

It gathered that many private depots in Apapa, Lagos, from where many marketers get petroleum products for distribution to other states, were running dry of petrol due to supply shortage.