By Eyo Nsima
As Nigeria’s petrol shortage continued to bite, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, has ordered marketers to resume lifting from depots nationwide.

The Chairman of IPMAN, Alhaji Mohammed Kuluwa, had previously ordered independent marketers to stop lifting petrol for sale at their filling stations, due mainly to unaddressed issues and challenges encountered by oil marketers.

Specifically, he had stated: “Following the critical situation as it affects our sourcing and selling of the product at losses and the action of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, to impose selling of the product at lower prices, you are hereby directed to suspend selling at all filling stations. You are also to suspend payment for orders from source till further notice.”

Checks by The Daily, www.thedaily-ng.com indicated that many independent marketers had started to comply.

But in another letter, he stated: “Having met with the Authority concerned, all filling stations should open with immediate effect and continue selling. The association will continue with further consultation and accordingly keep you informed.”

A market survey by The Daily, www.thedaily-ng.com showed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, the nation’s sole importer of the product and the major oil marketers, including Total, MRS, Coinoil, Mobil and Forte Oil currently sell petrol at between N180 and N190 per litre, depending on location while their independent counterparts put their prices at over N300 per litre.

Recently, the government emerged with N172 per litre as the ex-depot price while urging every player to comply.

But the independent marketers continued to complain that they cannot source the product at that price like NNPC and the major marketers.

They have also complained about the harassment of the regulator, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.

However, the Group Chief Executive Officer, CEO of NNPCL, Mr. Mele Kyari, had said: “We do have a challenge of a very monumental proportion and the solution to this challenge is in this room. There is a crisis around fuel distribution and this has resulted in a number of issues which have taken a different dimension and are clearly unanticipated. The reality is that we are not dealing with a supply problem. As we speak now we have 831 million litres in marine and in the various depots we have up to 738 million litres of fuel in depots that are documented on all platforms.”