There are indications that the Federal Government may have finally hands off the regulation of the price of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) otherwise known as Kerosene, even as operators have confirmed that the price of kerosene is now at par with that of Diesel.
A marketer, Mr. Olanife Adeoye in a chat with Shipping Position Daily last week confirmed that adulteration of products which hitherto was a regular practice in the sector does not exist any longer.
There are indications that the Federal Government may have finally hands off the regulation of the price of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) otherwise known as Kerosene, even as operators have confirmed that the price of kerosene is now at par with that of Diesel.
A marketer, Mr. Olanife Adeoye in a chat with Shipping Position Daily last week confirmed that adulteration of products which hitherto was a regular practice in the sector does not exist any longer.
He attributed the reduction in adulteration to the increase in the ex-depot price of kerosene to close the gap between diesel and kerosene. This he said was occasioned because government has deregulated the sale of kerosene.
Investigations conducted by our correspondent at the tank farms showed that kerosene is now sold for N127 per litre, ex-depot, while the price of diesel is pegged at N129.
Depot sources told our correspondent that it is no longer profitable for the perpetrators of the act to continue with products adulteration business.
A source stated that: "It doesn't profit them to blend again, all those who have been doing the dubious business, it is no longer profitable for them and this is what we have been advocating for, the difference between the price of kerosene and diesel should not be much, these people used to capitalize on the differential and they use kerosene to sell diesel"
"Some even use kerosene they add some chemicals to change the color and they sell completely as diesel which is so wicked"
"The price of diesel has come down from almost N138 to N128 while the price of kerosene is at N127".
Shipping Position Daily gathered that the price of diesel was far below the price of petrol before the Federal Government deregulated it and is still regulating that of petrol.
Olanife told our correspondent that ordinarily, the price of kerosene should be N50 to the masses because the government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was selling it for less than N50.
"Maybe they have deregulated it now because they know that so many sharp practices are taking place. The sharp practices start from the DPR office, they collect millions from the buyers, and those who have paid this money will not be able to sell below N50", he alleged.
He said that no marketer has ever sold kerosene for N50 to the public except Capital Oil and Gas, an arrangement which he described as a mere propaganda.
Our investigations also revealed that presently, many of the filling stations only wrote N50 on their sign boards, but they actually sell kerosene for N126.
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