Petrol Scarcity Looms As Marketers Jettison Importation Over Forex Volatility

The country’s petroleum products distribution and supply chain may face more challenging complexities going by current foreign exchange market intricacies.

At a media forum yesterday Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria(MEMAN), complained that the perplexity of the forex market uncertainty has stopped members from embarking on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol importation.

They said, it is not easy to put together a correct mathematical calculation of the products landing cost as to further determine the appropriate pump price.

The executive secretary of the association, Clement Isong, in sharing his members position on the present industry value chain conundrum said, their investment is not fully protected with dollarisation of certain charges.

The market and consumers are not immune to government policy that allows Nigeria Ports Authority(NPA), and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, continuous charges in dollar, said Isong.

He also informed that though marketers receive products form Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) retail, ship-ship products products offload is transacted in dollar all of which pushes up cost of pump price.

“We are presently concerned about sustainability, efficiencies and affordability of energy for Nigerians and we are encouraging shift to energy transition specifically into gas space.” the ES said.

Giving further analysis, Isong said though the federal government has been faithful in its avowed intervention process since it exited the petrol subsidy regime, yet the dollarization policy is weakening the industry and discouraging investment.

He placed the blame mostly on fluctuating dollar movement and unpredictability of the rate.

For instance, he said, marketers pay NNPC about $10 per metric ton and given current exchange rate would translate to higher pump price .

Analysing the forex market impact on the business, he said, in 2023 when President Bola Tinubu removed the subsidy, and with exchange rate at that time the cost on a liter was about N4.85k and with the dollar at about N1,600 today it has added up to about N11.83 a liter, and at $30 per metric ton which was N14.54 today with dollar at N1,600 that has pushed it up to N28.44 which is adding up to the pump price.

On the transportation side, he said, even with separate negotiations by marketers, transporters charge between N5-N8 per liter.

He said with the unbearable rising cost, the Association’s ongoing advocacy is towards leveraging gas as alternative source of energy.

Speaking on the transition shift to gas, Femi Fanoiki, a consultant on Liquified Petroleum Gas, LPG, said efforts are currently moving towards driving LPG application in both the industrial and automotive services.

Fanoiki explained that interventions by the government is encouraging investment in that space but said more infrastructure deployment will further boost adoption process.

Speaking on the advantages of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Adelanke Bayo-Adepoju, Gas and Renewable Energy Specialist at MEMAN analysed benefits in shifting focus on CNG as alternative to petrol.

She said, concerted efforts have been made to convert about 1 million vehicles to run on the fuel by 2027 and establishment of over 1,000 conversation workshops across the country.

Clarifying on the issues of return of subsidy, Isong, said the industry is witnessing consistent intervention initiatives by government which perhaps public may have misconstrued as subsidy payment.

He said, President Tinubu, in July 2023 promised that the administration will continue to monitor inflation and exchange rate movement and would be intervening to manage market operations to ensure energy security.

“We have seen those interventions at different times and it providing a level of stability but our advocacy is to encourage a paradigm shift to affordable energy options “ Isong explained.