Nigeria’s Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has insisted that petrol price must remain at N165 because it is a regulated product and the prices are fixed.

They added that the ex-depot price is known and that the pump price remains N165 which the authority is ever ready to enforce the rule.

This was disclosed by, Mr Ugbugo Ukoha, Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retail Infrastructure (NMDPRA) on Tuesday after visiting jetties in Apapa, Lagos.

Ukoha revealed that the war between Russia and Ukraine had led to an increment in the cost of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel), which is used in transporting petroleum products from the depots to the retail outlets.

He said, “So, when we observed that this poses a big challenge in the movement of other products, we made the representation to the Minister of State for Petroleum and Mr President graciously approved that the freight rate for trucks be increased.

“There’s a N10 addition, which we will apply to the different routes to enable trucks to move to docks easily with less burden.

“With these kinds of efforts from the government, we can only continue to appeal to operators within this industry to play by the rules.

“PMS is a regulated product and the prices are fixed. The ex-depot price is known. The pump price remains N165 and the authority is ever ready to enforce those rules.

“So, we will continue to urge Nigerians to keep within these operating rules.”

Ukoha said the focus of the stakeholders in the next few days would be to close the supply gaps and resolve the ongoing scarcity of petrol as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Mr Adetunji Adeyemi, Group Executive Director, Downstream, NNPC Ltd., said the purpose of the visit to the depots was to get first-hand information on the challenges responsible for the current scarcity.

“Today we have about 2 billion litres of PMS in-country, which is about 34 days sufficiency. So, there is sufficient petrol in the country.

“We are working with the entire stakeholders and players in the downstream sector to ensure that this product gets to the distribution channels and also the stations.

“We want Nigerians to continue to enjoy the free flow of petroleum products,” he said.

Fuel scarcity returned to some parts of the country as long queues resurfaced in many filling stations that have fuel while many others were shut for lack of the product.

IPMAN had explained that the decision of some of its members to shut down their operations was because they no longer want to operate at a loss as well as not want to operate under hostile conditions.

The Marketers had on Monday advised its members to adjust the pump price of PMS to a minimum of N180 per litre, citing the increment in the ex-depot price of PMS by some private depots where they were buying the product from.