Scarcity: Petrol may sell for N150

Unless the Federal Government address the concerns of petroleum importers, a litre of petrol may sell for N150 from next week, Industry operators have warned.

The importers who spoke to Daily Sun yesterday under anonymity said mounting subsidy debt owed marketers is taken a toll on their businesses.

As of yesterday, the acute shortage of petrol  have forced petroleum marketers in Lagos and its metropolis to sell at N100 a litre as against the official recommend price of N87.

Majority of the major and independent petroleum marketers who have stock have refused to sell while those selling are doing so at N100 a litre.

The development has led to traffic build up across the metropolis, especially at Oba Akran and its Ikorodu road, Ikoyi, with the worst hit being Lekki –Ajah axis.

Findings by Daily Sun revealed that marketers have suspended further importation of petroleum products over the inability of government to settle about N291 billion owed petroleum marketers.

Indeed, the situation is further compounded by the inability of the Buhari government to give assurance to marketers on whether it would settle the outstanding debt liability owed it by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

According to an industry operator who pleaded not to be named explained that, the Buhari has failed to assure to call petroleum importers to a meeting on how it intends to settle the outstanding liability, this he said remained a source of concern.

The industry operator said for now, banks have suspended further credit lifeline to importers as a result of the mounting debt, coupled with the inability of importers to pay for old debt, hence the chances of getting fresh loans had become almost impossible.

‘‘Another challenge confronting us for now is the posture of the government. This government is not talking; we don’t even know the direction as far as subsidy payment is concerned. We are not sure is the industry will be deregulated or not. All these are issues creating uncertainty in the sector,’’ he said.

The situation according to industry analysts make take a turn for the worse in the coming weeks if Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) runs out of stock, adding that the only entity importing for Now is the NNPC.

Recall that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),had last week, said there was enough supply of the product.

The corporation in a statement issued by Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe,  cautioned members of the public against panic buying of petrol.

Alegbe said the NNPC had stepped up efforts to maintain stability in the supply and distribution of petroleum products nationwide.

He said there was enough stock of petrol to service the country for 25 days at a national consumption rate of 40 million litres per day even as the corporation had stepped up product distribution to petroleum marketers and NNPC retail outlets across the country.

While calling on members of the public to refrain from panic buying, the NNPC said it had sufficient stock of petrol at its coastal depots in Port Harcourt, Warri and Calabar, besides the stock in the national strategic reserves

The Sun.