Independent Petroleum Marketing Association of Nigeria, IPMAN have noted that the only way forward is to fix the refineries and keep them running.
The main factors which control fuel prices are foreign exchange and crude oil prices, and oil marketers have said the cost of fuel in Nigeria would continue to increase as long as the US Dollar maintained its rise in the foreign exchange market.
According to the National President IPMAN Chinedu Okoronkwo, since subsidy was removed by the federal government, market forces had taken over the role of determining pump prices.
He also added that since the product is purchased in dollars, fuel pump prices will continue to go up as long as the dollar-to-naira rate kept increasing.
As of Friday, the price of Brent crude witnessed an increase as it was traded for $86.98, almost $87 per barrel. This is a significant increase when compared with the price recorded last month which was below the $80/barrel mark.
The cost of PMS has been increased twice since the President, Bola Tinubu officially made the announcement to end subsidy payments thus massively increasing the cost of PMS from ₦190 per litre to over ₦500 per litre immediately.
Nigerians were jolted about a month later in July when some NNPC stations again, increased their pump prices to ₦617/litre.
Recently, the Naira witnessed one of its lowest drops as it went below ₦900 against the dollar at the parallel market. The naira also dropped against the US dollar at the official Importers and Exporters (I&E) window.
The drop has raised concerns that this August may witness another price increment considering the effect of the FX exchange rate on the price of the commodity.
Marketers have, however, noted that the only way forward is to fix the refineries and keep them running as reported by pulse.ng.
They argued that as long as petrol is being imported, there will always be crises due to the ’dollarisation’ of the import process.
