The cost of diesel per litre is expected to increase from N800 to N1,500 within the next two weeks.
This was disclosed by the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association (NOGASA) on Tuesday, 14 June, during a media briefing in Abuja, Punch reports.
According to them, the cost of diesel will hit the roof if nothing drastic was done to curtail the current challenge faced by importers of the deregulated commodity.
Speaking on behalf of the marketers, the National President, NOGASA, Bennett Korie, explained that the only solution to the current challenge was for the Federal Government to raise the pump price of petrol a little in order to reduce the huge foreign exchange used in PMS imports.
He said, “If you go round now you will see that about 75 percent of filling stations in Nigeria have gone out of business. There is no diesel to take fuel to their stations. All of them are going down.
“And it is not that the fuel is not there, but the cost of bringing it to the stations is too high. We know that the crisis between Ukraine and Russia has contributed badly, but the government has to do something fast, otherwise we are going to buy diesel in the next two weeks at N1000 to N1500 per litre.”
Korie states that if the government could bring down the rate at which it spends foreign exchange on PMS imports, this would will help other businessmen who import diesel to bring in products at low prices.
Korie said, “The reason why you are having scarcity of petroleum products particularly in Abuja is as a result of the high cost of diesel. The price of diesel today in the market is N850 per litre. You will also agree with me that the money being paid as bridging claims to transporters is not enough.
“The price is N850 per litre and you are giving your driver 1,200 litres from Lagos to Abuja, if you do the calculation you will find out that the landing cost (for transporting the fuel) is about N40 per litre.
“So if you add that to PMS, buying at the depot price and selling here, it is too high. So if your cost of bringing it in is at N40 per litre and you bought it at N155 per litre, when you add this you will get N195 per litre. But you are to sell at N165 per litre. So who will do that kind of business? It is already a loss-making business.”
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