Lagos, Jan. 23, 2023 – The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has called for full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector to encourage adequate supply of petrol.
It attributed the increase in the cost of petrol to the high rate of logistics.
“These queues are caused by exceptional high demand and bottlenecks in the distribution chain.
“The major cause is the shortage and high (US dollar) costs of daughter vessels for ferrying product from mother vessels to depots along the coast.
“Next is inadequate number of trucks to meet the demand to deliver product from depots to filling stations nationwide.
“These high logistics and exchange rate costs continue to put pressure on prices at the pumps.
“Over the past three months, staff and management of MOMAN companies have worked diligently at depots and filling stations to relieve the stress faced by customers through the Christmas and New Year period.”
“Our members have again agreed to extend depot loading hours as well as keep strategically situated service stations open for long hours to ease access to fuel for our customers,” it said.
MOMAN said it would continue to ensure that the product was sold at recommended pump prices by the regulatory authorities in spite of pressure on the price by demand and cost in the immediate operating environment.
“A final resolution to these challenges will be the full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector to encourage the liberalidation of supply and long-term investment distribution assets.
“We urge the government to work towards this end goal,” the marketers advised. (GBN)
