Following the removal of marketers from importing fuel for the country, leaving the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), latest reports said the volume of petrol imports increased by 1.18 billion litres within two months.
In 2017, oil marketers stopped participating in the importation of petrol due to the high differential between the landing cost of the PMS and the pump price of the product at fillings stations, which the oil marketers complained were not favourable.
Figures obtained last Friday in Abuja showed that the oil firm’s importation of petrol rose significantly between the months of March and May 2019. In March 2019, the corporation imported 916.51 million litres of petrol. This increased to 1.9 billion litres in April and climbed further to 2.1 billion litres in May this year.
The analysis further showed that between May 2018 and May 2019, the difference in the volume of petrol imported by the NNPC was about 991 million litres. The total volume of petrol imported by the corporation from May last year to the same period this year was put at 20.4 billion litres.
The report indicated that the NNPC made no import of the Dual Purpose Kerosene, popularly called kerosene, in the months of March and May this year. The same report was for kerosene in May, September, October, November and December 2018.
The total volume of kerosene imported by the corporation from May 2018 to May 2019 was 310.97 million litres, while the cumulative volume of the products, petrol and kerosene, imported by the NNPC during the period under review was put at 20.71 billion litres.
Petrol import was far higher than kerosene volume that came into the country during the period. Officials said that the significant rise in petrol imports between March and May this year was due to an increase in consumption.
“This, of course, would mean more under-recovery for the NNPC, as this corporation is the supplier of last resort and has the task of ensuring that the country is wet with refined petroleum products, especially the PMS,” said an official.
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