Many filling stations operated by independent oil marketers have now fixed the pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, at between N900 and N1,000/litre.

Owners of these stations seem not to care about the cost of the product at retail outlets operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company. Petrol prices at NNPC stations range from N568 to N617/litre. This often leads to queues at the stations.

As Nigerians raise concerns about the high cost of the commodity by independent petrol dealers, the Federal Government has also vowed to shut down filling stations that will be caught dispensing PMS at exorbitant rates.

It declared this through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, stressing that it was not in the interest of Nigerians for marketers to profiteer in the sales of PMS.

Independent oil marketers claimed that they’ve been buying petrol from private depot owners for as high as N850/litre since last week and that this was why the pump prices were high.

However, the spokesperson of the NMDPRA, George Ene-Ita, argued that the petrol price reports that the regulator gets from its officials at the depots were different.

“Our depot people see a different price because we ask them to publish the prices at the depots every day and it is not N850/litre. Our field agents at the depots give us a different figure,” he said.

When told that some filling stations operated by independent marketers in Lagos and many other states dispense their products for as high as N900 and N1,000/litre, the NMDPRA official said such outlets would be brought to book if apprehended.

“If we get these outlets, all we do is to try and shut them down, because NNPC is the company that brings in the product and they tell us how much they sell as their ex-depot prices to off-takers. And we sit down together and work out the margins and there is no way it should be that high,” Ene-Ita declared.

The NMDPRA official further noted that there was no way the agency could reconcile the high cost of petrol sold by independent marketers.

“Do you have these stations displaying the high prices on their pumps?” Ene-Ita asked.

A news correspondent responded in the affirmative, and the regulatory agency’s official declared again, “Once we get these outlets, we are going to shut them down. NNPC tells us how much they sell and there is no way the pump prices should be that high. We don’t expect it to be higher than N650/litre.”

The NMDPRA spokesperson warned marketers involved in profiteering to desist from the act, stressing that the agency would not fold its hands and allow operators to cheat Nigerians.

Findings by our correspondents show that marketers are making more profit as the fuel crisis rocking the country has refused to end.