The lingering scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, in some parts of the country may take a turn for the worse as petroleum marketers have lamented the persistent scarcity of the Dollar and the dwindling fortune of the Naira.
Already what started in Abuja and other hinterland states has spread to Lagos with most filling stations hiking the price from the initial N165 per litre to N220 per litre.
Executive Secretary of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) Clement Isong, said although there were vessels laden with petrol imported by the NNPCL on the high seas waiting to discharge, the cost of hiring ‘daughter’ vessels for the operation has been discouraging due to the high cost.
Isong said: “The challenge is the exchange rate and the scarcity. It is very difficult to get dollars. A ‘daughter’ vessel is hired for 10 days to discharge the content from the ‘mother’ vessel. This means that it has shot up from $200,000 to $450,000. Then, marketers and depot owners also pay the NPA and NIMASA charges in dollars. Yet, the dollar is scarce and difficult to get.”
This situation, he explained, is the reason many marketers and depot owners are unable to lift petrol from the ‘mother’ vessels.
Isong said even when some of them lift the product, they still have to factor in the cost of the dollar and other logistics at their depot because no business likes to operate at a loss.
He added: “The problem is really the scarcity of the dollar. The higher the dollar rate, the higher the cost of operation. Unfortunately, you also have these charges to pay to government agencies, like NIMASA and the NPA in dollars.
“There is a bottleneck at that point. It is true the NNPCL has brought the vessels onshore, but it is the bottleneck in bringing the products offshore into the private depots that is an issue because of dollars. The depots are charging to recover their cost. Many people are already closing shops.
“Even we, as MOMAN, cannot go and pick the product because we cannot hire a vessel at that price, because we have our limits. That’s the challenge. Every time the dollar rises, it impacts many things.”
