By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has pegged Nigeria’s Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) consumption at a dailyaverage daily of 14.2m litres per day.
This figure appears to be at variance with the claims of the Federal Government which had on different occasions pegged the country’s monthly petrol consumption at 40 million litres, 50 million litres and 60 million litres per day.
Though, the fuel consumption figure by the Federal Government was inclusive of filling stations operated by members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) which has consistently claimed that it owns about 70 per cent of filling stations in Nigeria.
The Association also disclosed that its members dispense an average of about 4.720 million liters of petrol per day across 3,000 filling stations nationwide.
The data were contained in a presentation at a virtual workshop organized by MOMAN for Energy Correspondents in Lagos at the weekend.
Chairman of MOMAN, Mr. Olumide Adeosun, lamented that the current N6.19 retail margin for marketers was hampering investments for oil marketers operating in the downstream sector.
He said total distribution margin under the current petrol pricing template accounts for 11.5 per cent of the petrol pump price despite significant increase in costs, saying operators are struggling along the supply chain to get petrol out of the nuzzles into the cars which is difficult to sustain.
‘‘The backbone of distribution is based on diesel, from transport (vessels and trucks) to energy costs (depots and stations). This affects not just petrol distribution but also the distribution of aviation fuel’’.
Given a further breakdown of the monthly expenses for a standard retail station, Adeosun pegged station rental at N580,000, staff cost for eight;N 280,000, utility cost of 40 litres of diesel per day at N400 per litre for a month;N550,000, consumables;N148,000, taxes and levies;N206,667, total monthly OPEX;N1,765,259, total monthly OPEX allocated to Petrol(80%);N1,412,207.
Earlier in his presentation, Vice President, Crude and African Markets, Argus Media, Mr. James Gooder, said sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and Europe has been identified as the major cause of the rise in price of diesel in the market.
He explained that the increase in diesel and aviation fuel prices is higher than the increase in petrol prices globally because the supply of diesel and aviation fuel (middle distillates) is mainly from Russian refineries which are currently under sanctions.
Gooder, said this is not the same with petrol which is from Northwestern Europe refineries and is readily available.
He noted that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has supercharged existing upward market momentum, adding that recovering global demand and constrained Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC + output, low stocks and high refining costs have all played a part.
“But Russia is one of the three largest oil producers along with US and Saudi Arabia.
Market’s unwillingness to buy Russia oil in the spot market means there is greater competition for alternatives hence higher prices.
“Diesel is driving the oil complex Russia is a major exporter of diesel as well as crude.” he explained.
According to him, crude is expensive but diesel is at a strong premium and prices are highly volatile and unpredictable.