Petroleum products marketers may soon witness additional costs on the retail price of fuel with the introduction of a N500,000 Ship-to-Ship Coordination charge on trans-shipment operation for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.
The introduction of the charge was at the instance of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Marine Logistics.
It was gathered that this charge on any transshipment operation was part of moves by the NNPC to fully recover its operational cost since the recently passed Petroleum Industry Act had made the national oil firm a limited liability company.
This has made depot owners raise the ex-depot price of petrol, a development that has forced marketers to increase the PMS price above the approved cost of N142-N145/litre.
It was gathered that the cost of petrol might hit or exceed N180/litre in most filling stations in coming weeks if nothing is done about the hike in its ex-depot price by depot owners. The approved pump price of petrol currently is N162-N165/litre.
Most private depot owners recently raised the ex-depot price of petrol from the approved N142-N145/litre price to between N162 and N170/litre.
This made many filling stations owned by independent marketers dispense petrol above the approved price, as they stated that the cost of the commodity would exceed N180/litre in most retail outlets soon, except in mega stations and those owned by major marketers.
Independent oil marketers in Nigeria operate about 90 percent of the filling stations across the country.
In a letter from the NNPC, with reference NNPC/ML/STS01, dated February 18, 2022, and addressed to all marketers, the national oil company explained that the charge would cover manpower, logistics, among others, Punch reports.
The letter, which was titled, “Payment of STS Coordination Charge,” and signed by O.I.O. Ajilo, for the NNPC’s Group General Manager, Shipping, read in part, “Please be informed that the NNPC management has directed that effective February 10, 2022, the sum of N500,000 will be charged for STS Coordination fees for each transshipment operation involving the NNPC Marine Logistics.
“This amount is to cover manpower and logistics required for coordination and production of cargo documents for the transshipment operation.
“A Remita payment request will be generated by our accounts section for each operation to effect necessary payment upon the vessel’s tendering Notice of Readiness. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation and understanding.”
In another document titled, “Commencement of STS Coordination Charge,” which was from the General Manager, Marine Logistics, to marketers, with reference GGM/ML/04, and dated February 8, 2022, the national oil firm explained the functions of Marine Logistics.
It said its functions were to coordinate ship-to-ship transshipment activities for the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, NNPC Retail Limited and third-party marketers, as well as facilitate the processing of clearances for shuttle vessels and preparation of Bill of Lading on completion of STS.
Marine Logistics, PPMC, and NNPC Retail Limited are subsidiaries of the national oil company.
Depot owners have insisted that they had no option but to recover their cost, stressing that the pump price of petrol would definitely rise beyond the N165/litre approved price at filling stations should the current situation persist.
The NNPC’s spokesperson, Garba-Deen Muhammad, has said he is not aware of the increase in ex-depot price for petrol, while his counterpart in the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Kimchi Apollo, said independent marketers should tender a formal complaint to the NMDPRA
Comments