The Federal Government spent about
N3 trillion to import petroleum
production between January 2015 to
April 2016, according to the National
Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its latest
petroleum import data released at the
weekend.
Specifically, the country imported
N570.6 billion worth of petroleum
products between January and April
this year while the country consumed
about N2.4 trillion products in whole
of 2015.
The NBS report, identified the
products to include Premium Motor
Spirit (PMS), Automotive Gas and Oils
(AGO) and Household Kerosene (HHK)
respectively.
A breakdown of the value spent on
petroleum imports showed that the
country consumed N431 billion of PMS
from January to April this year; spent
N118 billion on Automotive Gas Oil
and N20 billion on House Hold
Kerosene during the period under
review.
Besides, despite the relatively low cost
of fuel at some filling stations, which
has reduced to about N140 per litre
around the country, petrol still sell
above the prescribed pump price of
N145 in Cross River, Kaduna and Yobe
states respectively.
For instance, PMS consumers in the
three states, pay as much as between
N152 and N155 for a litre of petrol.
A marketer, who spoke to The
Guardian in confidence, attributed the
high cost of petrol in some states to the
difficulties in getting the products to
those locations.
According to the source, petrol is
cheaper in some states because of their
nearness to the various depots, which
allows easy movement of trucks to the
filling stations.
The source said that most of the
retailers who sell above pump price,
do so due to the exorbitant price at
which they also bought the product
from depots.
But the product is selling at N143 per
litre in Osun, Abuja and Akwa Ibom
respectively.
In the midst of this challenges, the
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) said it has
intensified efforts to maintain
availability of petroleum products in
all nooks and crannies of Nigeria and
keep Nigerians abreast of the key
actions taken in the downstream
petroleum sector. It is doing this by
collaborating with citizens and other
stakeholders to combat corruption,
inefficiencies and service issues in the
oil and gas sector.
According to the Corporation, the re-
commissioning of the Escravos-Warri-
Kaduna pipeline will enable the supply
of crude oil to Warri and Kaduna
refineries after many years of
inactivity in an effort to combat the
national fuel situation.
“Therefore, the three refineries are
working, which will help in a great
deal with the issue of fuel supply and
distribution across the country and it
will go a long way to manage the fuel
crisis. In addition, there is ongoing
competitive tendering process to find
partners to overhaul the ailing
refineries to ensure fuel sufficiency,”
it noted.
NNPC disclosed that a total of 876.18
million litres of white products were
distributed and sold by Pipelines and
Product Marketing Company (PPMC)
in the month of July 2016 compared
with 860.46 million litres in the month
of June 2016.
This, it said, comprised of 821.07
million litres of PMS, 39.17 million
litres of kerosene and 15.94 million
litres of diesel.
Source: the Guardian
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