Even as the scarcity of kerosene lingers in the country, downstream oil and gas operators have pointed accusing fingers at one another in an attempt to establish who is more culpable for the scarcity of the essential product.
Some of the operators have however blamed licensed marketers for the scarcity of the product, saying that, as they are being given allocation to import the product, they usually trade it off to second parties who will also want to make his own profits.
Even as the scarcity of kerosene lingers in the country, downstream oil and gas operators have pointed accusing fingers at one another in an attempt to establish who is more culpable for the scarcity of the essential product.
Some of the operators have however blamed licensed marketers for the scarcity of the product, saying that, as they are being given allocation to import the product, they usually trade it off to second parties who will also want to make his own profits.
Apart from this, tank farm owners have also been fingered for trying to play monopoly with the product. According to a reliable source, the depots usually hike the price deliberately because they are the only ones having the product readily available at all times.
A petroleum marketer and Chief Executive Officer of L&T Logistics Limited, Mr. Lucky Obogo told Shipping Position Daily last week that the demand for Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) commonly known as kerosene, is higher than the level of supply that is being allocated by the government.
Obogo said that marketers who get the product directly from the government still sell to other people for profit, while those who bought it now sell it at a higher cost in order to recoup their investments.
He said that kerosene is currently selling for N113 but added that, “what we have on paper, its supposed to sell for N50”. “DPK is something government has interest in because it has to do with the masses, that is why whenever there is scarcity government tends to react fast unlike AGO” he said.
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily last week, another marketer; Mr. Olanife Adeoye pointed out that the situation is becoming more challenging as there is no adequate supply of kerosene to the market.
Olanife said that many of his clients “are worried all over, Akure, Ilorin and Ekiti have been calling me that they wanted kerosene”.
“Our challenge is that presently we don't have enough supply of petroleum products especially kerosene, you see them once in a month and the demand for it is so high, it is a dual purpose kerosene so the demand for it domestically and for industrial use is very high, it is sometimes used as aviation fuel, the demand for it is higher than we normally get”.
“Government should help us increase the level of supply, and the rate of allocating it to the depot owners and the license owners”, he appealed.
“It is not that government is giving it out free of charge, the licensed marketers pay to get the allocation from the government, government can even make more money from this, as they supply more, they get more money, and they should double what they are supplying to the licensed marketers and make money for our purse”.
Investigations carried out by our correspondent showed that in the last two months, the price of kerosene rose from N115 per litre to between N145 and N160 per litre. There has been no tangible excuse given for this development, even though the Minister of Petroleum; Mrs Deziani Allison Madueke has consistently allayed fears and insisted the product should not be above N50 per litre.
Meanwhile, our correspondent also confirmed at the Ibafon-Ibru tank farm complex, that only two depots; Ibeto and SPG depots are having the product to sell.
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