The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporations, NNPC, says it has not increased the Ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Corporation, Dr Kennie Obateru, disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Abuja on Friday.
Ex-deport price is the price at which oil marketers buy products at the depots, the price is what determines the price at which petrol stations will sell to motorists.
He spoke while reacting to new PMS Pricing template released by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) that indicted N212.61k Pumb price for the month of March.
Obateru urged Nigerians and motorists not to engage in panic buying of the products as the corporation had no plans to increase its ex-depot price.
“NNPC stands by that statement that we issued on March 1 that we are not increasing the Ex-depot price in the month of March and that is what it is.
“There is no need for panicking and I can tell you from our own point of view that we will not increase the pump price of petrol and we are still standing by that March 1 decision.
“We have sufficiency of product in the country and there is really no need for the public to panic. Like I have stated, the ex-depot price for the NNPC is still at it is, it has not increase and it will not increase in this month of March,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, PPPRA on its website on March 11, had fixed the pump price of petrol, at N212.61 per litre, for the month of March in its PMS guiding price template and said it would run from March 1 to March 31.
According to the PPPRA, based on the average cost for the period, Feb. 1st to Feb. 28th 2021, and an average FMDQ Importer and Exporter (I& E) Naira/US Dollar Exchange Rate of N403.80, the expected retail price of PMS for March 2021, stands at N209.61 per litre and N212.61 per litre.
This, it said remained the lower and upper band respectively.
Giving a breakdown of the cost elements of the commodity, the PPPRA put the Expected Ex-Coastal price at N175.73 per litre, comprising Average gasoline price (FOB Rotterdam barge), and Average freight rate of N169.22 and N6.51 per litre respectively.
It also put the Expected Landing Cost of the commodity at N189.61 per litre, comprising the addition to the ex-coastal price, of average lightering expenses, Nigeria Port Authority Charges, NIMASA charges, jetty throughput charges, storage charge and average financing cost of N4.81, N2.49, N0.23, N1.61, N2.58 and N2.17 per litre respectively.
It further added the wholesalers’ margin of N4.03 per litre; administrative charge of N1.23 per litre; transporters’ allowance of N3.89 per litre; bridging fund of N7.51 per litre and Marine Transport Average of N0.15.
It noted that various margins brought the expected ex-depot price, that is the price at which the commodity is sold to petrol stations, to N206.42 per litre.
The PPPRA further stated that the inclusion of retailers’ margin of about N6.19 per litre, would bring the pump price of the commodity, the price at which it is sold to motorists, to N212.61 per litre.
Meanwhile, most petrol stations were selling petrol at the old price of between N162 and N168 per litre.
Some NNPC petrol Stations visited are dispensing to motorists at N162 per litre.
Also, the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, have said that there is no hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol.
The groups confirmed the development in separate interviews on Friday in Lagos while reacting to reports that the price of PMS has been increased to N212.61 per litre.
Currently petrol sells at N162 and N165 per litre at most filling stations across the country.
Mr Clement Isong, the Executive Secretary, MOMAN, said that the association had received communication from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, that there should be no price increment for PMS.
“NNPC has told us that they will not increase prices in March. If you recall, they have made a statement on that earlier and have reconfirmed to us that there is no increment.
“They have also put it out on their social media handles.’’
According to him, queue noticed at filling stations in some states of the country in recent weeks is due to speculation that there will be price increase.
“What NNPC did was to take out the speculation by giving assurance that price will not go up in March and that killed the queue and demand went down.
“What they have done again this morning is to take out the speculation out of the market. They always have enough products,’’ he said.
Isong added that MOMAN had advised its members to continue retailing with the old price regime.
Similarly, Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo, President, IPMAN said marketers had received communication from NNPC that there would not be any price increment until government and organised labour concluded their deliberations.
“There is no increment. Government is still talking with labour. What we are even concerned about is total deregulation of the market.
“There are other alternative sources of energy to PMS and we cannot continue to focus all our attention only on that product,” he said.
