Two weeks after the nationwide strike has been called off, oil marketers in the downstream sector have opened up on the losses they counted during the one week dark periods of anti subsidy removal protests and rallies which paralyzed economic activities.
Some downstream oil marketers who spoke with Shipping Position Daily last week have estimated that they may have lost in excess of N37billion to the periods of the nationwide protests.
Two weeks after the nationwide strike has been called off, oil marketers in the downstream sector have opened up on the losses they counted during the one week dark periods of anti subsidy removal protests and rallies which paralyzed economic activities.
Some downstream oil marketers who spoke with Shipping Position Daily last week have estimated that they may have lost in excess of N37billion to the periods of the nationwide protests.
Based on daily consumption estimates, the Depot Manager of the nation’s biggest tank farm, Capital Oil and Gas; Mr. Geoffrey Okorie said that the depot alone usually loads not less than 100 tankers trucks of petroleum product per day.
This shows that the marketers have lost the value of the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) worth over N21.15billion going by the 30million litres per day sale and consumption at the rate of N141 per liter.
The loss on Automated Gas Oil (AGO) is placed at N9.0billion going by the 12million liters per day consumption at the rate of N150 per liter. Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) of 10million liters per day at the rate of N100 per liter stood at N5.0bn, also Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) also known as ‘Jet A1’ of 2.3million liters consumption per day at the rate of N140 per liter stood at N1.61bn.
Meanwhile, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have also lamented that the scarcity and exorbitant price of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) or kerosene is as a result of its monopoly of importation by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and direct sale of the product to farm tank owners rather than independent marketers with retail outlets.
These revelations were made last week at a public hearing on subsidy collections by the President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Abdulkadir Aminu, who said his colleagues, with more than 78 per cent of retail outlets were allocated one per cent of total PMS import for 2011, with zero allocation for kerosene.
He also said scarcity of any petroleum product as a result of hoarding is encouraged by the NNPC, stressing that the actual fuel consumption on daily basis can be obtained from the sales manuals of the NNPC and the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company Ltd (PPMC).
In his submission, the IPMAN chief said subsidy and its management would remain compromised and open to further manipulations unless the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) insists on attaching imported petroleum products to retail outlets.
“We start to experience problems with the advent of briefcase importers that have neither storage facilities nor retail outlets. They categorise themselves as independent importers.
He said in 2001, Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria’s (DAPMAN) entrance into the industry was to provide additional storage facilities for the major independent marketers and NNPC.
Aminu regretted that majority of those involved in importation of petroleum products have no retail outlets to support those imports.
According to him, the drift from the norm was responsible for the rot in the system when importers without capacity took over importation of petroleum products.
Besides, the inability of the NNPC to attach imported fuel to retail outlets that created the opportunity for manipulation with the apex oil company preferring the independent importers above independent marketers by the NNPC, he added.
Discussion about this post