The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has directed marketers to sell the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) for N170 per litre.

The instruction followed Thursday’s night announcement of N155 .17ex-depot price to the marketers.

IPMAN National Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Maigandi, said: “The PPPMC last midnight told us that the ex-depot price is now N155. 17 per litre. We have directed our marketers to sell for N170 per litre.”

He also noted the price will still depend on the forces of demand and supply.

NNPC had not announced the price for two months because, according to it, the announcement always generates issues.

The announcement of the new ex-depot price of petroleum was contained in a leaked internal memo from the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The document marked PPMC/C/MK/003 and dated November 11, 2020, was signed by the Manager Marketing of the PPMC, one Mr Tijani Ali, and addressed to the Executive Director of Commercial (EDC) of the agency.

It contains an advice which seeks an upward review of the ex-depot price of PMS, which is the price of the product sold at the tank farms, to N155.17 per litre from the initial N147.67 per litre.

Consequently, marketers would be dispensing the product to motorists within a band of N165 and N173 per litre.

The memo reads in part: “The EDC may please refer to the management directives in respect of the above subject (PPMC PMS prices for November 2020) as per the attached memo.

“In line with the above, we propose PPMC November 2020 actual prices for PMS with effect from 13th November 2020, as follows: PPMC Ex-Coastal Price for PMS N130 per litre; PPMC Ex-Depot Price (With collection) N155.17 per litre.”

In September, the Federal Government declared a fully deregulated downstream oil sector, paving the way for prices to be determined by market forces, especially international oil price.

The deregulation had been singled out as the reason behind the recent hike in the price of petrol.

According to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, deregulation will be difficult for Nigerians at the initial stage but will get better in the long run.

He added that since the announcement of full deregulation in March, the Federal Government has saved over N1 trillion.

•Based on reports by The Nation and Channels TV.

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