The cost of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, has risen to N200/liter at depots.
This means that motorists should brace up to buy PMS above N200/liter at filling stations.
It was learned on Monday that PMS cost, which was about N178 to N185/liter recently, had been jerked up by private depot owners due to the drop in supply by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, among other operational concerns.
This came as both the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria told our correspondent that tankers were now spending more than one week in queues for petrol at depots.
The National Vice President, IPMAN, Abubakar Maigandi, confirmed the reduction in supply by NNPC and the hike in the ex-depot price of petrol at depots in Lagos and Warri, Delta State.
Maigandi said, “Firstly, due to that flooded road issue, the products at most filling stations became exhausted. Then, we noticed that there is not enough availability of products because most of our trucks are stuck in various depots.
“This is because there is not enough supply of products from the NNPC. These are the challenges we have been facing. Your truck will go there and queue for more than one week.
“And you know that when a truck spends one week in a queue without loading, it will cause a serious issue in terms of availability. Again, because independent marketers rely on private depot owners to get products, when we go there to purchase, they sell at almost N200/liter to us.
“They now sell between N190 to N200/liter in Lagos and Warri depots. You can now imagine the cost of filling stations. People should be ready to buy above N200/liter if this situation continues.”
