The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has said that the pump price for premium motor spirit (PMS) remains at N165 per litre.
The NMDPRA in a statement, insisted on N165 per litre for pump price.
The statement followed calls by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to it’s members to sell the product at N180 per litre or any other reasonable price, as the current price of N165 was no longer sustainable.
The Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, Mr. Ogbugo Kalu, who spoke at a media briefing said the Authority was ever ready to enforce the price on independent marketers who are planning to increase pump price to N180 per litre.
“PMS is a regulated product. The price is fixed and the ex-depot price is known. The pump price remains at N165. So we continue to urge Nigerians to keep within these operating rules,” he stated.
According to him, in the next three days, the Authority would focus its energy in making sure that the marine stock would be translated into inland stock to get petroleum products across the country.
He added: “Within a very short while, we will see the fuel queues pale out. So that is what our focus in the Authority and for the next few days we urge every operator and indeed even assure the public that whatever glitches and supply gaps that have been observed will disappear shortly.
“So we do not encourage any panic buying. We urge Nigerians to be calm as these things will be resolved very easily.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd (NNPC) has assured Nigerians that it has over two billion litres of PMS that would last for the next 34 days in the country, adding that there was enough stock to meet the nation’s demand.
Group Executive Director, NNPC, Adeyemi Adetunji, said over two billion litres of PMS that would last for the next 34 days was in country, adding that there was enough stock to meet the nation’s demand. He assured that NNPC was working with the entire operators and stakeholders in the downstream sector to ensure that petroleum products get to distribution channels and filling stations across the country.
The Managing Director, Petroleum Pipeline Marketing Company (PPMC), Isiaku Abdullahi, said all hands were on the deck to support its marketers and transporters to ensure that petroleum products get to where they are needed.
He said there were about three vessels in the Apapa jetty waiting to offload more than 60 million metric tonnes, adding that in due course, the potential and imagined fuel crisis in Lagos would be over.
Oil marketers under the aegis of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) also empathised with their customers and members of the public on the current distribution hiccups witnessed in the supply of petrol from the various petrol stations dispensing at N165 per litre, saying the price was unsustainable.
