The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria has said queues at filling stations were as a result of exceptional high demand and bottlenecks in the fuel distribution chain.

In a statement, MOMAN said the major cause of the queues was the shortage and high dollar costs of vessels used in ferrying petrol from mother vessels to depots along the coast.

MOMAN said another challenge was the inadequate number of trucks to meet the demand to deliver product from depots to filling stations nationwide.

The statement read: “These high logistics and exchange rate costs continue to put pressure on prices at the pump.

“Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) sympathises with our esteemed customers and Nigerians over the challenges we are facing in the purchase of petrol at filling stations across the country.

“Over the past three months, staff and management of MOMAN companies have worked diligently at depots and filling stations to relieve the stress faced by customers through the Christmas and new year period.”

Oil marketers said members of the association had again agreed to extend depot loading hours as well as keep strategically situated service stations open for longer hours to ease access to fuel for customers.

The statement said MOMAN would continue to use its best endeavours to ensure that the product was sold at the pump at prices currently approved by the regulatory authorities, despite pressure on price by demand and costs in our immediate operating environment.

The MOMAN said a final resolution to these challenges would be the full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector to encourage liberalisation of supply and long-term investments in distribution assets.