Petroleum product marketers have expressed fears that the instability in the prices of Premium Motor Spirits (petrol) may lead to an epileptic PMS supply in filling stations.

The marketers noted that though fuel scarcity may not exist due to local refining capacity, filling station owners are now hesitant to lift the products from depots.

In an interview with our correspondent, the National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, emphasised that the traders lose billions of naira whenever the prices of petroleum products like PMS and diesel are reduced.

He recalled that the Dangote refinery entered the market in early 2024 and crashed the price of diesel, forcing marketers to sell below their cost of purchase and running into huge debts.

Following the full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector by the Federal Government, the Dangote refinery and the NNPC have changed the prices of PMS multiple times between September 2024 and January 2025, affecting price stability and the cost of purchase.

Ukadike disclosed that the business of running a filling station has become more risky due to what he called the price scare.

According to him, there is enough supply of petrol at the Dangote refinery and the depots of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited but many filling stations are scared of buying it due to the sudden price change.

“Everybody is trying to be very careful. It’s not that there is no product. There is availability of the product. But the price scare is what everybody is very careful about. Sometimes, when the price goes down you see people losing billions of naira. So, everybody is being cautious,” Ukadike explained.

When he was reminded that an increase in price means more profits for the marketers as they quickly adjust to the new price unlike if the price goes down, Ukadike disagreed.

According to him, the only reason for raising the price is to meet the new market price and not to make excess profits.

“I want you to remember that when the price goes up, the marketers add more money which is not profit.”

They add money to be able to continue to purchase the product. I want you to understand that it’s not profit because if the price goes up and you sell at your old price, you will not be able to have anything again. You won’t be able to back up,” he clarified.

The IPMAN spokesperson maintained that marketers are scared of lifting fuels in order to avoid collateral losses, having secured loans from the banks.

“That is why marketers fear lifting fuel because of the price scare. They will not want to suffer collateral losses.

“Remember that when the Dangote refinery came in, it was reducing prices and marketers were losing money. Did anybody tell marketers not to sell again or that they are going to repay them the money lost? Nobody said so and nobody will say so,” he stressed.

He said marketers were left alone with their losses as they resorted to selling cheaper than they acquired their products.

“It’s like having to sell off because the monetary value of what you have and the interest rate of that will not be able to keep you up. The interest rate is going up faster now,” he noted.

https://punchng.com/marketers-fear-epileptic-fuel-supply-over-unstable-pms-prices/