Amid worsening supply challenges and rising pump prices, petroleum marketers have begun moves to import petrol independently as the commodity moved close to the N1,000 per litre mark across major cities in the country.
Marketers said supply constraints and production glitches at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery sparked fresh pressure in the downstream oil market.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, confirmed the development in a telephone interview.
According to him, members of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria are concluding arrangements to begin petrol importation as part of efforts to stabilise retail prices.
He stated that petrol prices would soon drop as competition returns to the market, if additional competition is brought into the sector.
“Yes, petrol price is still going to come down because I also know that some marketers, especially DAPPMAN members, have applied and they are going to import petrol products.
“Peradventure, their prices are cheaper than Dangote’s, we would have no choice but to patronise them. The essence of this market is that where it is cheaper, we will buy. But prices will come down once there is a struggle for the market,” Ukadike said.