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Following the challenges being experienced by transporters of petroleum products which had caused disruptions in the supply of petrol across the country, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved an upward review in the cost of freight rate.
The review was announced by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in a statement issued on Thursday.
There had been series of threats by oil marketers of the possibility of the worst case of fuel scarcity ever in the country as a result of the high cost of diesel which had made it more expensive to transport petroleum products.
The Oil Marketers had claimed that the cost of diesel would keep increasing and might hit N1,500/litre in the next two weeks if nothing drastic was done to curtail the current challenge.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria had claimed that the scarcity could be averted only if the Federal Government prevailed on the NMDPRA to pay N500bn bridging claims by its members.
As of May 12, over N58bn was disbursed to oil marketers out of which about N34bn went directly to members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria.
The NMDPRA said in the statement that the review was necessitated by the upswing in the global price of petroleum products especially Automotive Gas oil (Diesel) and its implication on the cost of transporting Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) nationwide.
The statement said that in line with the mandate of the Authority as prescribed in Section 39 of the Petroleum Industry Act to develop and enforce a framework on tariffing and pricing for natural gas and petroleum products, the transporters freight rate was reviewed to reflect current market realities.
It, however, added that the revised freight rate takes effect from 1st June: 2022 while still maintaining the current regulated PMS pump price of N165 per litre.
The statement reads, “President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has considered and approved the upward review in freight rate for transporters to alleviate the challenges associated with the distribution of Premium Motor Spirit nationwide.
“The approval was after due consultations the industry wide stakeholders at the stance of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (the Authority).
“The review was necessitated by the upswing in the global price of petroleum products especially Automotive Gas oil (Diesel) and its implication on the cost of transporting Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) nationwide.
Consequently, the Authority wishes to advise that in line with the mandate of the Authority as prescribed in the PIA (Section 39) to develop and enforce a framework on tariffing and pricing for natural gas and petroleum products, the transporters freight rate has been reviewed to reflect current market realities.
“The revised freight rate takes effect from 1st June: 2022 while still maintaining the current regulated PMS pump price of N165/ litre.
“An Inter-Agency Team is being constituted the ensure reconciliation and payment of outstanding transporters claims in line with established payment procedure under the Bridging Fund Scheme.
“Meanwhile, NNPC, the sole supplier of PMS, hac maintained over 32 days sufficiency in country. We believe the increase in transporters freight rate will further encourage Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners NARTO and other stakeholders to deploy more trucks to transport PMS nationwide to ensure adequate supply of the product.
“The Authority assures the public of its commitment to building a strong and sustainable Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Sector.”
